It was the bromance that supposedly was going to save the American economy, or at least that’s what the campaign trail hype wanted us to believe back in late 2024. You remember the images: Elon Musk jumping for joy in a black "Dark MAGA" hat in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Donald Trump promising that "a star is born."
But by the summer of 2025, that star was crashing back to earth in a spectacular, high-speed collision of egos.
Trump and Elon fighting isn't just a tabloid headline; it became a genuine constitutional and economic concern when the two most powerful men in the country started trading blows over federal budgets and SpaceX contracts.
People love a good feud. Especially when it involves a billionaire who owns a rocket company and a President who owns the most famous social media bullhorn in history. But if you think this was just about two guys being "alpha," you’re missing the actual policy disaster that sparked the whole thing. It wasn't just personality. It was math.
The "Big Beautiful Bill" That Broke the Bromance
The honeymoon didn't just end; it evaporated.
The real catalyst for the Trump and Elon fighting timeline was something Trump called his "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB). This was supposed to be the hallmark of his second term—a massive package involving tax cuts and green energy spending shifts.
Elon Musk, who had spent months as the co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), absolutely hated it.
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He didn't just "dislike" it. He went on a warpath. Musk called the bill a "disgusting abomination" and a "pork-filled" mess. He argued it was basically a fast track to national bankruptcy, given the $38 trillion debt crisis. Trump, never one to take criticism from his own appointees, didn't hold back. He told reporters in the Oval Office he was "very disappointed" in Elon.
Then things got nasty.
Trump took to Truth Social to claim Musk was "wearing thin" and that he’d essentially asked the billionaire to leave the White House. Musk countered by saying Trump would have lost the election without him.
He even went as far as to suggest Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein files. That’s a heavy accusation to throw at the guy who just gave you a golden key to the city.
Why the DOGE Dream Died So Fast
Musk’s stint at DOGE was always going to be a ticking time bomb.
He was a "special government employee," a title that let him bypass some of the more annoying ethics disclosures but also limited his stay to 130 days. During that time, he was a chainsaw in a china shop. He was firing off emails to federal workers demanding they justify their existence every week.
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- The friction points were everywhere:
- Musk wanted to cut $2 trillion. He eventually settled for trying to cut $150 billion.
- Cabinet secretaries were "blindsided" by his tactics.
- USAID programs were frozen, leaving Trump's own appointees scrambling to explain why to Republican lawmakers.
- Trump eventually realized Musk’s "efficiency" was actually sabotaging his own legislative agenda.
In June 2025, the Trump and Elon fighting reached a fever pitch. Trump threatened to terminate all of Musk’s government contracts and subsidies. Musk, in a move that felt like a plot point from a Bond movie, threatened to decommission the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that NASA uses to get to the International Space Station.
He later backtracked, but the message was clear: Musk knew where the leverage was.
It was a chaotic, public divorce. Musk even floated the idea of starting a new "America Party" to represent the "80 percent in the middle." He told his followers that while Trump had 3.5 years left, he’d be around for 40 more. Talk about a power move.
The Mar-a-Lago Thaw: 2026 and Beyond
If you’ve followed these two for long, you know they can’t stay mad forever. They need each other too much.
By early January 2026, the temperature finally started to drop. Musk posted a photo of a "lovely dinner" with Trump and Melania at Mar-a-Lago. He captioned it with a hopeful note about 2026 being "amazing."
Why the sudden change? Iran.
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Recent internet blackouts in Iran saw Trump reaching out to Musk for Starlink support. It turns out, when you need to bypass a foreign government’s censorship, there’s only one guy with the satellites to do it. The utility of SpaceX proved more important than the insults about "pork-filled" bills.
Despite the dinner photos, the relationship is fundamentally changed. They aren't the "best friends" they were in late 2024. They are more like wary business partners who know that a public brawl costs them both too much money. Tesla stock took a 14% dive during the height of the 2025 feud. Even for the world's richest man, that's a slap in the face.
What This Means for You
The saga of Trump and Elon fighting tells us a lot about how power works in 2026.
It's not just about who is in the White House anymore. It’s about who owns the infrastructure—the satellites, the charging stations, and the social media platforms. When these two fight, the markets shake.
If you're looking for actionable insights from this chaos:
- Watch the subsidies: If Trump and Musk are feuding, EV and solar tax credits are usually the first thing on the chopping block.
- Diversify your portfolio: Both of these men are highly unpredictable. If your net worth is tied strictly to their "vibes," you’re in for a rollercoaster.
- Follow the policy, not the posts: The "Big Beautiful Bill" was the real issue. While everyone was looking at the Epstein tweets, the real fight was about how the U.S. handles its debt.
The feud might be "on pause" for now, but with the midterms approaching in late 2026, don't expect the peace to last forever. They are two suns in a system that only has room for one.
Keep an eye on the Starlink contracts. As long as the government needs Musk’s tech for foreign policy, Trump will keep him close, even if he can't stand the "efficiency" lectures.
For more on how these shifts affect the economy, you should track the upcoming Senate debates on the 2026 budget amendments.