Musk Risks Tesla-Space X Successes By Taking on Trump

This week, Elon Musk the world’s richest man, went toe-to-toe with the world’s most powerful office. The dispute comes days after Elon Musk’s own withdrawal from government involvement. The tension stems primarily from May 2025’s approval of Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which not only stirred opposition but polarised the Republican Party while distancing key allies of the Trump administration.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk depicted at the White House.

Until his recent step away from the Department of Government’s Efficiency (DOGE), Musk was a key element in gathering and retaining support for Trump. It was June 3rd when Musk strongly and publicly denounced the bill on X, referring to it as a “disgusting abomination”. Musk also cautioned of its likeness to cause a recession in the latter half of 2025 in addition to piling massive amount of debt onto the US economy.

The world’s richest man was quick to point out his part in Trump’s reelection and sees the bill’s passing as an ungrateful gesture – not only to his efforts to put Trump into office, but his own actions at DOGE over the past few months.

While several scrapes were made on social media, the White House’s official response came on June 5th. It was there where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to Musks behaviour as an “unfortunate episode”, saying that the Tesla and Space X CEO was merely disgruntled over the bill’s disregard of the agendas he has for his corporations.

Never one to hold his tongue, the US president himself weighed in on June 5th, suggesting that he was taken aback by Musk’s attacks. Trump hinted at retaliatory measures from his office, too, asserting that he may no longer collaborate closely with the likes of Space X and Tesla moving forward.

While Musk’s Space X has secured numerous government contracts in recent years, his electric vehicle (EV) company, Tesla, stands as the largest and most successful EV producer in the US. Tesla sales have slowed, however, during the initial months of 2025 while its stock has had a hard time retaining its value. This latter effect is largely attributed to his reduced involvement at Tesla during his stint at DOGE.

On Thursday, Tesla’s stock plummeted 14%, wiping out $151 billion in market value, as investors priced in the Musk-Trump fallout. It is yet to be seen how the fallout will affect Musk’s companies in the long run.