They were once the best of friends, but last night that came to an end – and it all unfolded online as people across the world looked on… and retweeted.
Tension between Elon Musk and Donald Trump had been building for several days after the SpaceX billionaire criticised the US president’s signature tax bill.
While initially it remained cordial, the president suggested his former backer and adviser missed being in government and suffered from “Trump derangement syndrome”, leading to a sudden and dramatic deterioration in relations between the pair.
They have two of the largest platforms in the world, and last night, they turned them on each other. While much of Europe slept through it, here is every insult and barb as it happened… so far.
6.39pm: ‘Big ugly spending bill’
Musk tells Trump his “big ugly spending bill” will make the economic situation worse.
Five minutes later he retweets a video in which he says the bill will increase the US’s deficit to $2.5 trillion (£1.85 trn).
AT 6.48pm he shares a post about the bill’s popularity, simply saying: “Kill bill”.
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6.49pm: Trump’s ‘body double’
Earlier in the evening, Musk reshares a series of posts (dating back to 2012) from Trump’s X account, including ones saying deficits should not be allowed.
He then reshares a post of someone praising him, adding: “Where is the man who wrote these words? Was he replaced by a body double!?”
He then retweets a meme, making light of Trump’s plan, which links to a poll he had run the previous day.
7.23pm: Back to the bill
Musk starts tweeting about the “big ugly spending bill” again, saying members of Congress didn’t even have time to read it before it was passed.
He continues to tweet about this for most of the night, including accusing the government of “spending America into bankruptcy”.
7.30pm: Who is right?
Musk retweets a poll that shows 76% of 1.5 million voters think he is right in his spat with the president.
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7.37pm: Elon was ‘wearing thin’
Trump shares a post on his Truth Social site that accuses Musk of going “crazy” after the president took away his EV mandate.
Musk responds by sharing a number of former interviews, including a video from 2021 where he says the industry does not need EV tax credits.
Trump then shares a post in which he writes the “easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts”.
8.10pm: The Epstein ‘bomb’
Arguably the largest moment in their fight – Musk accuses Trump of being in the Epstein files.
He gives no evidence for the claim. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismisses the comment.
9.06pm: Musk ‘turning against me’
Trump says he doesn’t mind Musk turning against him, but adds that “he should have done so months ago”.
He then goes on to voice continued support for his bill, calling it “one of the greatest bills ever presented to Congress”.
Read more:
The big beautiful bust up that everyone knew was coming
9.09pm: Decommissioning Dragon
Following Trump’s statement about terminating his contracts, Musk tweets: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”
Dragon is the only US spacecraft available to deliver crew to and from the International Space Station.
Two minutes later he retweets a post calling on Trump to be impeached, adding simply: “Yes.”
9.29pm: Trump’s tariffs
Musk hits out at Trump’s tariffs, resharing a tweet from someone who called them “stupid”.
“The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year,” he adds.
For the rest of the evening, Musk reshares posts from other users, often adding a laughing face emoji, or the occasional comment, including the words: “If America goes broke, nothing else matters.”
2.20am: Musk says he won’t decommission spacecraft
Just after 2am, an account with a few hundred followers tweets Musk: “This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days.”
In response, Musk agrees he won’t decommission the Dragon spacecraft.
