A once-strategic relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has publicly unraveled, culminating in a fiery online feud that exposed deep political and financial tensions between the two influential figures.

In a series of heated posts on X (formerly Twitter), Trump accused Musk of benefiting from billions in government subsidies while pushing electric vehicle (EV) mandates that he claims were “unpopular and unnecessary.”

Donald Trump declared that he had personally “terminated Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” calling it “the easiest way to save money in our Budget.”

“I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” Trump added, suggesting that Musk’s privileged position in U.S. industrial policy should have been dismantled long ago.

Trump, who remains a central figure in the Republican Party went further by claiming he had asked Musk to “leave” and revoked what he called an “EV mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody wanted.”

Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, swiftly responded with sharp counterattacks.

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

Musk insinuated that his influence among tech-savvy conservatives and libertarians helped secure Republican victories.

Calling Trump’s statements “an obvious lie,” Musk accused the president of “ingratitude,” adding cryptically, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”

The online fallout has sent shockwaves across political and business circles, with analysts pointing to the breakdown as emblematic of deeper fractures within the conservative movement — particularly among pro-business elites and populist nationalists.

Background: An Uneasy Alliance

Trump and Musk’s relationship has always been transactional, oscillating between mutual admiration and strategic distance.

While Trump boosted fossil fuels and opposed climate regulations during his first presidency (2017–2021), he also praised Musk’s innovation and American entrepreneurial spirit, especially in space exploration and electric vehicles.

Musk, for his part, served on Trump’s business advisory council until withdrawing in 2017 over Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.

Since then, Musk has increasingly leaned into right-wing talking points, opposing pandemic lockdowns, advocating for “free speech absolutism” on X, and endorsing some GOP policy goals — albeit inconsistently.

Despite differing priorities — Trump’s nationalism and Musk’s techno-libertarianism — both figures aligned in their disdain for establishment institutions and political correctness.

But the alliance began to fray when Trump recently vowed to “end EV mandates” and roll back Biden-era climate incentives if re-elected, a policy shift that would directly undermine Tesla’s core market advantage.

Musk’s opposition to federal overreach clashed with his financial dependence on federal contracts for everything from EV tax credits to SpaceX’s NASA partnerships.

The Fallout: Personal and Political Implications

The feud marks a significant rupture in a conservative tech-business coalition that had quietly emerged over the last decade.

It could also signal a broader Republican reckoning over the future of clean energy and federal industrial policy.

Political strategists warn that Trump’s scorched-earth rhetoric against Musk could alienate pro-innovation Republicans and Silicon Valley libertarians who had begun to the GOP.