The unlikely alliance unraveled in real time, with Trump telling reporters in the Oval Office he was “very disappointed” in the tech mogul’s criticism of his spending bill, and Musk railing against the president on X.

Musk and Trump, ostensibly political allies over cuts to federal spending, publicly clashed on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters. The origin of the dispute is the impact Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill has on U.S. public debt.

Elon Musk’s decision to go all in on Donald Trump never made much sense. His scorched-earth approach to breaking up with Trump is even harder to square.