The Elon Musk and Donald Trump Breakup Has Started

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Elon Musk may have finally reached the end of his rope with President Donald Trump—and vice versa. While the world’s richest man wars with the US president on X, Republican strategists and insiders in Trumpworld tell WIRED that Musk’s broader future in Republican politics is on shaky ground.

Over the past few days on X, Musk has posted increasingly personal criticisms at Trump and the Republican budget reconciliation package known as the Big Beautiful Bill. This came to a head on Thursday, when Trump addressed the relationship during a press conference with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” said Trump, who compared Musk to past aides who have, he said, developed “Trump derangement syndrome” after leaving his administration.

Trump and Musk have been in lockstep since Musk endorsed the president in July 2024. Musk poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump’s reelection bid, and their close relationship has been promoted by the pair countless times. Just last week, the two held a joint press conference as an apparent celebration of and conclusion to Musk’s time as a special government employee involved with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Today’s remarks, though, reveal how fractured that relationship has become. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk posted on X shortly after Trump’s comments. “Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”

Behind the scenes, Trumpworld Republicans tell WIRED, this tension is about more than just a bromance falling apart. If Musk continues to escalate, he may drag down legislation that Trump sees as a key part of his political legacy.

“If [Musk] actually successfully gets any votes switched to tank this bill and kills it,” a senior Trumpworld strategist tells WIRED, “then I think at that point he’s fucking dead to Donald Trump.”

This Republican—who, like the four WIRED spoke to for this story, requested anonymity to keep what’s left of their political futures alive after the current implosion of the Trump-Musk relationship—went on to say that Musk meddling in the Big Beautiful Bill came at the worst time and with the highest stakes for the Trump White House.

At best, they say, Trump has “18 months” to cement his legacy with his signature legislation. “Some of the priorities of President Trump are not possible outside of this bill.” After that, this same senior Republican said, the remainder of Trump’s term will likely be hamstrung by an expected Democratic victory in the House in the midterms that would prevent any major legislative wins.

“Whatever,” Musk tweeted minutes after Trump’s comment about their relationship and the president’s claims that Musk was only upset about the potential impact to his automotive business. “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill. In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that (sic) both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.” Musk has continued posting, attacking, he says, what he believes is Trump’s about-face on raising the debt ceiling.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the package would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion through 2034, mostly due to an anticipated $3.7 trillion decline in revenue due to the extension of tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term. The package would cut spending by about $1.3 trillion, with most of that coming from cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. Other spending would decline by about $64 billion on net, the CBO has written, with cuts offset by “increases in outlays for defense, immigration enforcement, and homeland security.” Because the package would increase the deficit, it would necessitate increasing the debt ceiling—something Trump has said he would like to do away with entirely.

“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump later wrote on Truth Social before threatening to cancel Musk’s government contracts.

Republicans familiar with the dynamic between Trump and Musk said several recent flash points have brought the two men closer to the brink. The most notable were Musk’s reported outrage at Trump’s announcement that he was withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally, for Nasa administrator. The Big Beautiful Bill, if passed, would also cut the electric vehicle tax credit that benefits companies like Tesla.

“If this really is a divorce and they start butting heads,” a second senior Republican strategist plugged into Trumpworld tells WIRED, “it doesn’t take much for Trump to put out a Truth Social post that undermines what Elon’s trying to do.”

Two of the Trumpworld Republican strategists WIRED spoke with who have clients on Capitol Hill—including senators facing reelection—said that even before Thursday’s outburst, Musk had become so toxic that even his seemingly endless funds couldn’t change their outlook.

“My advice to clients, many of which are in Congress in the Senate and seeking reelection, is to take the side of their voters and not the side of Elon Musk,” says the senior Republican strategist.

“If you vote to basically throw your district under the bus,” the second Republican adds, “that means you're going to lose in November anyways.”

Fearing a midterm wipeout and a lingering, toxic drag on the GOP brand from Musk, Republicans who had been cautious in their approach to the world’s richest man are feeling increasingly emboldened to encourage their clients to break free.

“You should not turn your back on promises made [to voters] just because Elon Musk is mad about it,” the first strategist says. “Unless Elon Musk spends a couple hundred million dollars going after people in these primaries, that is not going to have the impact that people think he does, because Donald Trump is still more popular than anybody else in the party. And if you're on the side of Donald Trump, then ultimately you're going to be OK.”

This story has been updated with details of a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump.