Donald Trump and Elon Musk feud: All the insults exchanged

President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s social media feud ignited by the President’s 'big beautiful bill' on federal spending remains persistent, and the two have exchanged a variety of insults publicly.

It was difficult to predict that President Trump and billionaire Musk’s relationship would sour to such an extent that they would be vilifying each other on their respective social media pages. From the beginning of Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, Elon Musk had been an ardent supporter of the real-estate mogul turned politician, donating more than $250 million through America PAC, according to PBS.

After Trump’s re-election, Musk occupied a prominent role in the 47th President’s administration. Musk was appointed as a “special government employee,” a short-term designation, and assigned charge to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, which took a number of intense measures such as ending federal contracts in order to cut government spending, according to NPR.

On May 30, however, Donald Trump and Musk collectively revealed that the Tesla CEO would be exiting the government as his 130 day-long term as a special government employee had ended, as per USA Today. The publication noted that at the time, the exchange between the duo was extremely cordial and respectful.

Insults exchanged between Donald Trump and Elon Musk

Despite the fact that Elon Musk ended his term with the U.S. government cordially, he had made a comment criticising President Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ during a conversation with CBS Sunday Mornings, which was recorded prior to his Oval Office farewell, when he claimed that the bill would increase the budget deficit instead of solving it.

As per CBS, Musk had said,

“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it could be both. My personal opinion.”

Musk also took to X on June 3 to comment on his disagreements with the bill, writing,

"I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

In reference to comments on the bill’s role in increasing deficits, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to write,

“Shockingly, the Democrat controlled CBO just announced that the Tariffs will be reducing the Deficit by at least $2.8 Trillion Dollars. Too bad this information couldn’t have been released earlier, it would have kept people from knowingly saying untruths.”

The President also addressed Musk’s criticism during a meeting in the Oval Office, and said,

“Look, you know, I’ve always liked Elon… I’d rather have him criticise me than the bill because the bill is incredible, it’s the biggest cut in the history of our country.”

According to a video of the press interaction released by PBS Newshour, Trump also said,

“Elon is upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles, and they’re having a hard time, the electric vehicles, and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy…Elon knew this from the beginning.”

Trump also went on to speak about other disagreements that he had with Musk, including one over the appointment of the head of NASA.

In the video by PBS Newshour, Trump pre-empted Musk’s personal attacks on him, and said,

“He hasn’t said bad about me personally but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m very disappointed in Elon.”

Responding to Trump’s comments, Musk wrote on X,

"Whatever. 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 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 also responded to the President’s claim that he was shown the bill, and wrote,

“False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”

Further, Musk claimed that he was responsible for Trump’s re-election, and posted on X,

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”

On June 6, Trump responded to Musk’s tweets on Truth, and said,

“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!”

The same day, President Donald Trump posted on Truth to state,

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

In response to this post, Musk wrote on his X handle,

“In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”

The President, on the other hand, posted on Truth,

“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given.”

Musk had also accused Trump of being involved with known s*x offender, Jeffery Epstein, and had posted,

"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

After claiming that the tariffs introduced by Donald Trump would lead to a “recession” later this year, Musk also posted news clips from the 1990s showing Trump with Epstein.