The Trump-Elon Feud Timeline: Best Buddies Broadcast Their Breakup

The breakup between the world's most powerful politician and the world's richest man is playing out in a manner befitting an era of hyperreality: with stunning speed, wild recriminations, and in public via television and their own social media platforms.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who just last week stood together in the Oval Office to proclaim their lasting friendship, traded barbs and insults in real time on Thursday. Proclamations of sadness, ingratitude and disappointment by the men soon devolved into an exchange of threats.

The rift had been widening since Musk on Tuesday broadcast his opposition to Trump's signature tax and spending bill, which the chief executive of Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. labeled a "disgusting abomination" sure to wreck the nation's finances. By mid-afternoon Thursday, Musk was posting on his X platform that Trump would never have won back the White House without his help.

Trump called the billionaire "crazy" and threatened to cancel his companies' federal contracts. Musk shot back, pledging to decommission the all-important Dragon spacecraft that underpins the International Space Station. Tesla shares plunged.

Musk kicked off his X activity on Thursday with a repost of the Christian news satire site The Babylon Bee, which had a "story" addressing the bill. The headline: Congress Warns Failure to Pass Spending Bill Might Delay Destruction of the Country

The billionaire made a direct swipe at the president, reposting a 2013 tweet from Trump criticizing Republicans for raising the debt ceiling. "Wise words," Musk said.

Trump soon began remarks from an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Musk reposted another Trump missive from the past, this one from 2012 saying no member of Congress should be reelected if the US budget isn't balanced.

Around noon, Trump started addressing Musk's criticism. "Elon is upset because we took the EV mandate, and you know, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles," he said. "They're having a hard time the electric vehicles and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidies. And, you know, Elon knew this from the beginning."

He went on to say Musk knew the inner workings of the bill. He said he and Musk had a great relationship - but that may be over.

"I'm very disappointed in Elon," he said. "I've helped Elon a lot."

All the while, Merz sat quietly by before the conversation moved on to discussion of topics such as Ukraine and Russia.

Musk took a break from his criticism to praise the president's decision to cut funding for California high-speed rail, calling it a sensible move.

But eight minutes later, Musk appeared to respond in real time to Trump's claims about the EV mandate: "Whatever." The Tesla CEO said he'd be fine for the EV cuts to stay in the bill, but noted that oil and gas subsidies weren't touched (which was "very unfair!!"). He also criticized the amount of "pork" in the legislation.

Then, the posts keep coming. Musk said he was never shown the bill.

Musk replies to X user Autism Capital touting his role in the election, saying that without him, Trump would've lost and Democrats would control the House. He followed up with "Such ingratitude".

Musk reposts a post from an X user called Wall Street Mav that expressed hope the disagreement didn't damage the relationship between the billionaire and Trump.

Musk quickly follows with a video from when Trump touted Teslas in front of the White House. "Remember this?" Musk said, tagging the president.

Trump jumps into the fray on his Truth Social platform. He said he asked the billionaire to leave and that Musk went "CRAZY".

The president quickly followed with a huge threat to the businesses of the world's richest man. He said the easiest way to save money would be to cut government contracts from Musk's companies. Total revenue for SpaceX and Tesla from federal unclassified contracts since fiscal year 2000 is $22.5 billion, according to Bloomberg Government data.

Musk responds to Trump's posts: "Such an obvious lie. So sad."

He then reposted a reference to how terminating government contracts would end the International Space Station, with laughing emojis. "Go ahead, make my day..." he said.

Musk said it's "time to drop a really big bomb," insinuating that Trump was withholding the release of files related to disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein because of president's own presence in them.

Musk then made his own threat, saying he would decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US.

As the spat unfolded throughout the afternoon, Tesla shares tumbled and investors panicked on X. Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Inc. urged someone to take the phone away from Musk.

By the time the market closed, Tesla shares had fallen 14%, the biggest decline since March.

Later in the evening, in response to an X user with the handle "@Fab25june" who called on the two men to "cool off," Musk said he wouldn't decommission the Dragon spacecraft after all.
 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)