Initiation<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m sorry, but I just can\u2019t stand it anymore.<\/p>\n This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.<\/p>\n Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n * * *<\/p>\n Escalation<\/b><\/p>\n Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Explanations<\/b><\/p>\n Elon Musk Urges Americans Take Action to \u2018Kill\u2019 Trump Tax Cut Bill<\/a> Bloomberg<\/p>\n The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer personally appealed to House Speaker Mike Johnson to save the tax credit, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss a private conversation. The House version of the tax measure calls for largely ending the popular $7,500 electric car subsidies by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n Since losing that battle, Musk ratcheted up his offensive against the president\u2019s signature legislation on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to \u201cKILL\u201d the legislation, pinning his opposition to the bill\u2019s $2.4 trillion price tag.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI Am NOT Taking Drugs!\u201d Insists Black-Eyed Elon Musk Following Reports of Physical Altercation With Treasury Secretary and Ketamine\/Shrooms\/Adderall Use<\/a> Vanity Fair<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a rough few days for Elon Musk, who appeared at his Oval Office send-off with a black eye <\/a>he said his son gave him, was the subject of a New York Times profile detailing<\/a> his messy personal life, and reportedly got into a fight<\/a> with a Cabinet secretary that at least one person familiar with the matter says became physical<\/a>. But he would like people to know he is NOT on drugs<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI am NOT taking drugs!\u201d Musk wrote<\/a> in a post on X on Saturday, responding to the New York Times story that, in addition to revealing some of the drama that comes with inseminating numerous women<\/a> as a project to repopulate the earth, alleged copious drug use during Musk\u2019s stint in the political arena. He went on to claim, \u201cThe New York Times was lying their ass off,\u201d adding: \u201cI tried *prescription* ketamine a few years ago and said so on X, so this not even news. It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven\u2019t taken it since then.\u201d<\/p>\n The outlet reported that, according to sources familiar with the matter, when Musk jumped on the campaign trail last year, he was<\/a> \u201cusing drugs far more intensely than previously known,\u201d and that he\u2019d \u201ctold people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use.\u201d He was also reportedly taking ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, and \u201ctraveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Reconsideration?<\/b><\/p>\n Musk Signals He\u2019s Open to Cooling-Off Period in Trump Feud<\/a> Bloomberg<\/p>\n Musk called for Trump\u2019s impeachment and insinuated the president was withholding the release of files related to disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein because of his own presence in them. Trump, in turn, proposed cutting off the billionaire\u2019s government contracts, following his onetime adviser\u2019s repeated exhortations for Republicans to vote against the president\u2019s signature tax legislation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Trump says he\u2019s focusing on Russia, China, Iran and \u2018not thinking about Elon Musk\u2019: \u2018I just wish him well\u2019<\/a> Le Monde<\/p>\n Responses<\/b><\/p>\n As my record on the question will clearly attest, I have never bought into the \u201cMusk Is A Genius\u201d evangel.<\/p>\n But it occurs to me that he has simply been \u201cblack-pilled\u201d and is indifferent to the consequences of his mutiny.<\/p>\n He may believe he has \u201cother options\u201d to pursue. \ud83e\udd14<\/p>\n \u2014 Will Schryver (@imetatronink) June 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cHE IS A FRAUD\u201d Steve Bannon Blasts Elon Musk For Inflating DOGE Numbers And Betraying President Trump<\/a> Rumble<\/p>\n We Should Immediately Nationalize SpaceX and Starlink <\/a>Jacobin<\/p>\n \u2026the threats and counterthreats about Musk\u2019s government contracts have been a vivid demonstration of how deeply enmeshed the billionaire\u2019s business empire is with the American state. We should be able to step back from the immediate absurdities of the Trump Show to recognize that this is a much larger problem. There\u2019s no reason it has to be like this. We don\u2019t need to have a privatized space program propped up by state funding. We don\u2019t need vital satellite internet infrastructure to be controlled, through that company, by a single ultrawealthy individual. We can just nationalize SpaceX.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In Godzilla vs. King Kong, Musk Wins<\/a> Ken Klippenstein<\/p>\n Trump does not hold the cards. Musk, on the other hand, has lots of them. He has a net worth somewhere north of $400 billion, making him the richest man in the world, and he owns Space X, Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, The Boring Company, and xAI. Even though Musk\u2019s Tesla company lost some 71 percent of its revenue in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year (thanks to citizens voting with their steering wheels), it\u2019s chicken feed for Musk. Trump\u2019s net worth is somewhere around $5 billion, according to Forbes (about one percent of Musk\u2019s wealth). In contrast to Musk, who has pioneered electric vehicles, commercial space, Starlink, AI and now owns a major social media platform, Trump is a real estate \u201cmogul\u201d who has failed at virtually every one of his ventures beyond that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Why Trump probably can\u2019t cut Musk loose <\/a> Vox<\/p>\n \u2026unwinding the government\u2019s relationship with Musk\u2019s companies is a near impossibility right now, particularly when it comes to SpaceX. The company is simply better at launching massive numbers of objects into space than any of its competitors, and it\u2019s not close: SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket was responsible for 84 percent of all satellite launches last year, and the constellation of more than 7,000 Starlink communications satellites accounts for around 65 percent of all operational satellites in orbit.<\/p>\n The US military is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX for mobile internet connectivity via a specialized military-only version of Starlink known as Starshield.<\/p>\n A true Trump-Musk rift would also have implications for \u201cGolden Dome,\u201d the ambitious plan to \u201cprotect the homeland\u201d from ballistic missiles, drones, hypersonic cruise missiles, and other aerial threats.<\/p>\n Plans for Golden Dome are still a little vague and no contracts for its construction have been awarded yet, but SpaceX is reportedly a frontrunner to build a constellation of hundreds of new satellites to detect missile launches and determine if they are headed toward the United States, and possibly even intercept them from space.<\/p>\n According to Reuters, SpaceX is bidding for portions of the project in partnership with Anduril and Palantir, two other defense tech companies also led by staunch Trump backers. SpaceX\u2019s vision for the satellite network reportedly envisions it as a \u201csubscription service,\u201d in which the government would pay for access, rather than owning the system outright, a model that would presumably give Musk much more leverage over how Golden Dome is developed and deployed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n How Dems Can Capitalize on the Musk-Trump Catfight<\/a> The Bulwark<\/p>\n This is how Trump wants to run everything, of course\u2014from the broadest-swath international trade policy down to the nitty-gritty level of individual government contracts. His lodestar is rewarding friends and punishing foes. It\u2019s not even clear that, in his megalomania, he sees this as a different thing from rewarding good work and punishing bad work. Of course it was previously good for the country for the computer and business genius Elon Musk to run everything\u2014it\u2019s obvious what a good, patriotic guy he is from how much he loves Trump. Of course it\u2019s good for the country now to pull the plug on everything Musk touches\u2014tragically, you can tell he\u2019s gone crazy by the fact he criticizes Trump.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Beyond the Trump-Musk fallout?<\/a> Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n What will likely follow? Hopefully a social media truce\u2014followed by intermediaries restoring the friendship but spelling out the limitations and constraints on each that will result in a new less volatile, less intense, but more sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship. Trump is now engaged in high-stakes diplomacy with some of the toughest, slyest, and meanest leaders in the world with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and the Iranian lunatic theocrats. He cannot afford to reach out to Musk and thereby appear to his enemies that he backs down. But if Musk reaches out and wishes to look ahead and not nurse wounds, Trump can certainly be magnanimous and to his credit state that he holds no grudges for what was said in the heat of passion, as he too looks forward to where and when he can help and be helped by Musk in the many areas where their aims are similar. The sane tech crowd, and most of the MAGA base want an end to this aberrant Trump-Musk eruption. Over half the country concurs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Elon-Trump Bromance Crashes and Burns<\/a> The Free Press<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s \u201cdisappointment\u201d with the Big Beautiful Bill and the GOP\u2019s enthusiasm for DOGE, it turns out, is a distraction from the real story, which is of a series of conflicts of interest that gets at the heart of the delicate tech bro-MAGA marriage. Indeed, Musk leaving the White House in a flame war shouldn\u2019t be surprising, for Musk\u2019s agenda has\u2014from DOGE\u2019s inception\u2014been at odds with the MAGA platform. On immigration, foreign policy, and economic policy, Musk\u2019s interests, which we have reason to believe<\/a> he pursued behind the scenes, were always on a collision course with what President Trump viewed as the interests of the United States.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Hell Hath No Fury Like an Elon Scorned<\/a> Sasha Stone<\/p>\n I have defended Elon Musk so many times on this site. I\u2019ve written about, praised him, and given him so much credit for buying X to give a voice to the voiceless. I have condemned him when he exhibited his emotional immaturity, as he did when he threw yet another hissy fit because Matt Taibbi would not produce work at X. He also threw a hissy fit at Bari Weiss for reporting the truth about him, though the details escape me. Somehow, I could overlook these things. I understood him as a complicated person, but look at him now. He is giving the Democrats everything they need for a blue wave. He never cared about \u201cgender affirming care\u201d or the \u201cwoke mind virus\u201d at all. He cares about his fragile widdle boy ego. What a huge disappointment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Vice President JD Vance | This Past Weekend w\/ Theo Von #588<\/a><\/p>\n J.D. Vance<\/b>: First of all I\u2019m the vice president to President Trump my loyalties are always going to be with the president. I think that Elon, he\u2019s an incredible entrepreneur. He\u2019s actually done\u2026 I think Doge was really good. The sort of effort to root out waste fraud and abuse in our country was really good. Look man I\u2019m always going to be loyal to the president and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that\u2019s not possible now because he\u2019s gone so nuclear.<\/p>\n I think number one, Elon\u2019s new to politics, right? So his businesses are being attacked non-stop. They\u2019re literally like firebombing some of his cars and by the way we\u2019re looking into a lot of the stuff.<\/p>\n I mean some of that stuff we\u2019re looking into is an act of terrorism at the Department of Justice. I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has suffered a lot for it, and I get the frustration there. Look Congress, you got this spending bill, but the main purpose of the bill is not actually spending or cutting spending, though it does cut a lot of spending.<\/p>\n The main purpose of the bill is to prevent the biggest tax increase. It\u2019s a good bill. It\u2019s not a perfect bill. The process in DC, if you\u2019re a business leader you probably get frustrated with that process because it\u2019s more bureaucratic. It\u2019s more slow moving.<\/p>\n But I really think it\u2019s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that and I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud, most importantly it\u2019s going to be bad for the country. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be good for Elon either.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Elon Musk Has Had PTSD Since Leaving WH, And He\u2019s Just Finding Any Which Way To Get Back At Trump <\/a> New York Post<\/p>\n MIRANDA DEVINE, NEW YORK POST: No, it\u2019s not at all. And look, it\u2019s not terribly surprising. He\u2019s a hugely intelligent man with a lot of achievements, but he really is a giant baby.<\/p>\n I remember Donald Trump had a sort of paternal relationship with him and said at one point that, he said, I don\u2019t want to be rude, but he is a bit of a child. And he\u2019s acting like a child right now, having a tantrum and lashing out in the nastiest way he possibly can and saying things that he can never undo. And I feel like what really happened was that daddy, Donald Trump, took sides in an argument he was having with Scott Bessent, which apparently got very willing.<\/p>\n Elon Musk shoved Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary. They were screaming and shouting and swearing outside the Oval Office, right outside Susie Wiles\u2019 office. And after that, obviously, Donald Trump had to choose sides and he chose Scott Bessent\u2019s side.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Consequences<\/b><\/p>\n Elon Musk\u2019s Feud With Trump Spurs One of His Worst Wealth Losses Ever<\/a> Bloomberg<\/p>\n Minute by minute, post by post, Elon Musk\u2019s very public, extremely online feud with President Donald Trump sliced into his vaunted status as the world\u2019s richest person.<\/p>\n The final damage at day\u2019s end: $34 billion erased from his personal net worth, the second-largest loss ever in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the 500 wealthiest people on the planet. The only bigger one: his own wipeout in November 2021.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 8 Ways Musk and Trump Could Inflict Pain on Each Other<\/a> New York Times<\/p>\n What Musk Could Do<\/p>\n What Trump Could Do<\/p>\n Triumphing under Trump: the corporate winners and losers<\/a> Financial Times<\/p>\n Twenty weeks into the second term of a president who promised to make America great again, many of the big stock market winners hail from outside the US. European defence companies and Chinese technology giants are among those prospering from \u2014 or despite \u2014 Donald Trump\u2019s policies; Silicon Valley contains some winners, but many losers too.<\/p>\n Tesla -$304bn USAutomobiles $1,068bn End market cap -22% Market cap change Trump impact Elon Musk bankrolled Trump\u2019s re-election campaign and Tesla\u2019s stock initially soared on optimism about the First Buddy\u2019s influence in the White House. However, a combination of tariffs hobbling Tesla\u2019s supply chain, an end to electric vehicle subsidies and a visceral consumer backlash to Musk\u2019s antics at Doge have caused sales and shares to plunge. A chastened Musk has stepped back from politics and returned to Texas to revive Tesla, which is pivoting from cars to self-driving \u201cCybercabs\u201d and humanoid AI-powered robots. But Thursday night\u2019s spectacular blow-up between Musk and Trump sent investors scurrying for the exit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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