Six days ago, Elon Musk and President Trump were in the Oval Office singing each other’s praises.
Not anymore.
On Thursday, the rapid unscheduled disassembly of their relationship played out in a news conference and on social media, after Mr. Musk’s departure as a special government employee last Friday. At the time, the tech billionaire said he hoped to continue as “a friend and adviser to the president.”
Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Musk’s whirlwind bromance publicly started when the world’s richest man endorsed Mr. Trump for president in July. Mr. Musk then campaigned for Mr. Trump.
Since the election, Mr. Musk has largely appeared inseparable from the president’s side, helping to shape the federal government, make policy decisions and meet with other world leaders as the “first buddy.”
But more recently, there have been signs of disagreement. In an earlier public break with the administration, Mr. Musk slammed the president’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, as a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” in a series of posts on X, his social media site, in April.
Mr. Musk started publicly criticizing Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill last week, saying in a CBS News interview that he was disappointed in the legislation’s size and impact on the deficit.
Things have unraveled from there. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he would withdraw the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and close ally to Mr. Musk, to be the next NASA administrator. Mr. Isaacman has been an avid customer of Mr. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, and his removal was viewed by some as a repudiation of Mr. Musk’s influence.
On Tuesday, Mr. Musk fired back on X, criticizing a sweeping Republican domestic policy bill that Mr. Trump had backed, as a “disgusting abomination.” The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive argued that a bill, which is known officially as the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, could be either big or beautiful — but not both.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Mr. Musk posted. He added that the bill would “increase the already gigantic budget deficit” and counter the work he had done to slash government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency.
The billionaire also suggested that he might help challenge members of Congress who supported the bill in the 2026 midterm elections. “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” he wrote.
Mr. Musk continued his warpath against the legislation on Wednesday, posting on X he would end the bill.
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok!” he wrote. “KILL the BILL.”
Mr. Trump gave his first public response to Mr. Musk’s posits during a news conference on Thursday, noting that the was “very disappointed” with the billionaire. The president also suggested that he would have won the election without Mr. Musk’s help.
Mr. Musk shot back on X, saying “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”
Ryan Mac covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry.
Kate Conger is a technology reporter based in San Francisco. She can be reached at kate.conger@nytimes.com.
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