The Donald Trump-Elon Musk alliance is over, with the president threatening he could terminate the tech billionaire’s many government contracts during a dizzying back-and-forth that included Musk accusing Trump of "ingratitude" and contending he had been “replaced by a body double.” Tensions between the former unlikely partners boiled over around midday Thursday, when Trump — sitting alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office — was asked about Musk’s harsh words for Republicans’ sprawling budget reconciliation measure. Trump said he was "very disappointed" with Musk's public denouncements of the "big, beautiful bill." “I’ve always liked Elon. And so I was very surprised. You saw the words he had for me, and he hasn’t said anything about me that’s bad. I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible,” the president said. Trump appeared to suggest, without explaining how, that he had given a boost to Musk’s many businesses, saying: “I've helped Elon a lot.” He also compared Musk to someone who has experienced the emotional trauma of leaving Trump’s orbit, harking back to the Cabinet officials and senior aides from his first term who eventually turned on their former boss. “I’ll be honest, I think he misses the place,” Trump said of Musk. "He’s not the first. People leave my administration, and they love us. And then at some point, they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it. And some of them actually become hostile. I don’t know what it is. It’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome. “They leave, and they wake up in the morning and the glamour's gone, the whole world is different, and they become hostile,” the president added. “I don't know what it is.”After Trump's meetings with Merz had wrapped, Musk went on a posting barrage on X. In a direct jab at the president, the megabillionaire said Trump would have lost a second presidential election without his help. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote. “Such ingratitude,” he added. In another sign that the breakup was official, Musk agreed with another user’s X post that Trump should be impeached and Vice President JD Vance should replace him. A relationship gone sour Musk, who until recently had led Trump's Department of Government Efficiency office, once hung out with the president over a weekend, boasting about staying overnight at the White House and smiling broadly as he got on and off the executive helicopter, Marine One. Musk’s time in the administration expired on May 31, and the day before, Trump gave him a friendly Oval Office send-off, presenting him a gold key to the White House and praising his work to cut federal programs, agencies and spending. But that now seems a distant memory, with Trump on Thursday going so far as to threaten he could end Musk’s lucrative contracts with the federal government. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” The president, who last week had cited Musk's temporary status as a "special government employee" and the tech mogul's need to tend to his companies as the reason for him exiting his administration, changed his tune Thursday. “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 wrote in another Truth Social post. Things had already turned ugly earlier this week as Musk ramped up his criticism of Republicans’ budget reconciliation measure, at one point urging House and Senate Republicans to “KILL the BILL.” In various X posts, Musk unloaded on the legislation, contending at times that it was a runaway spending measure that would drastically increase federal deficits and risk a U.S. default. In one post, he dubbed the measure an “abomination.” On Thursday, Musk recycled a few old tweets from Trump that were critical of past efforts to raise the debt limit. "Where is the man who wrote these words? Was he replaced by a body double!?" Musk posted on X. After Trump told reporters he understood that the former DOGE head had been fully briefed on the contents of what Trump has dubbed the “big, beautiful bill,” Musk denied ever being made aware of what it would do, if signed into law. 'Truth will come out' The world’s richest man on Thursday showed no signs of going down without a rhetorical fight, appearing to take aim at Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. “Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle,” he wrote in one post. “In November next year,” he wrote in another, “we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.” Many political analysts have said that the House, where Republicans enjoy only a razor-thin majority, is likely up for grabs next fall, while Senate Republicans are more likely to hold the chamber with a favorable election map. Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said Thursday that he doubts the crumbling Trump-Musk alliance would alter the political dynamic, both for the odds of passing the "big, beautiful bill" and for the 2026 midterms. After all, O'Connell suggested in a telephone interview, a third-party effort backed by Musk would likely take votes away from Republican candidates -- and, in the process, hurt the business tycoon's priorities. "Musk can either get nothing down the road or he can get half of what he wants right now," O'Connell said. "And let's face it, Trump and Musk do need each other. It's not impossible that they figure this out. It's in both their interests, long term." But as Trump fired back Thursday, Musk even got personal: “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!” “Mark this post for the future,” he added. “The truth will come out.” That appeared to be a reference to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a celebrity financier who died in April 2019 while in jail on federal charges of sex trafficking. High-profile figures named in previously released court documents have included Trump and former President Bill Clinton, and Trump was once captured on video at a party chatting with Epstein. Trump said as a candidate that he would be comfortable releasing the so-called Epstein files but has not yet done so. Trump and Clinton have denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s illicit activities. As the friends-turned-enemies jockeyed to get the last word Thursday, Trump fired off a Truth Social post contending that Musk was too late in his criticism. “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,” he wrote of the GOP budget measure. “It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. “If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT,” Trump added, resorting to one of his regular lines about the bill in an apparent attempt to end the back-and-forth. “This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
