The public split between President Donald Trump and former White House adviser Elon Musk continued this week, as the pair exchanged barbed insults after the tech billionaire recently announced his departure from the administration and criticized the president’s megabill.
Musk criticized Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” on May 27 in interviews, prompting a back-and-forth that devolved into insults Thursday, June 5, in a news conference and on social media.
“Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office June 5. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Musk quickly fired back, saying Trump wouldn’t have won a second term and Republicans would have fared worse in elections in both chambers of the U.S. Congress were it not for his efforts on the 2024 campaign trail, where he poured a quarter of a million dollars into Trump’s campaign.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said in a post on X, the social media company he owns. “Such gratitude.”
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Thursday’s squabble is the latest and most severe development in what has been a widening chasm between the billionaire and the Republican president. Musk, who had already scaled back his role with the Department of Government Efficiency, announced his departure in a May 28 post on X.
Musk started to scale back his work leading the government-slashing Department of Government Efficiency in April, following massive profit losses for his electric car company Tesla.
Here’s a brief timeline of key stages in the pair’s relationship and Musk’s involvement in Trump’s orbit over the past year.
Elon Musk: ‘Disappointed’ by the cost of Trump’s tax bill, says it undermines DOGE work
Donald Trump and Elon Musk: Timeline of pair’s relationship
July 13, 2024: The same day Trump was shot in an attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk officially endorses him for president. The billionaire’s donations to Trump’s reelection effort end up topping more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
Sept. 3, 2024: Then-candidate Trump says he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by Musk if he wins the Nov. 5 election.
October 5, 2024: Musk joins Trump onstage at a rally at the site of his assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk gestures as he attends a rally at the site of an assassination attempt against then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Nov. 5, 2024: Musk spends election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as the Republican wins the 2024 presidential election over Kamala Harris.
Nov. 12, 2024: Trump announces Musk and Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency”, also known as “DOGE” with the mandate to slash federal government spending, waste and regulations.
Jan. 20, 2025: Musk attends Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., and delivers a speech at one of the events. He attracted controversy after delivering a one-armed salute that some said appeared to resemble a Nazi-style gesture. “It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured,” Musk said before making the gesture.
Feb. 11, 2025: Musk visits the Oval Office with his young son, X, to mark Trump signing an executive order seeking to significantly reduce the size of the government through “large-scale reductions” in the federal workforce.
Elon Musk speaks as his son X Æ A-12 and President Donald Trump listen in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.
Feb. 20, 2025: Musk makes an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) wielding a blinged out chainsaw gifted by Argentina’s president, using it as a prop to symbolize his role leading DOGE and “slashing” government spending,
March 4, 2025: Trump gives Musk a shoutout during his joint address to Congress, applauding his work at DOGE. “He’s working very hard,” the president said during his speech.
April 30, 2025: Trump’s Cabinet secretaries give Musk a round of applause as the Tesla CEO attended what might have been his final Cabinet meeting, as he takes a backseat from DOGE.
May 1, 2025: In his most extensive remarks to a room of reporters since he launched DOGE, Musk discusses stepping back from the agency. The White House classifies him as a “special government employee,” with the title of senior adviser to the president and allowing him to stay on the job for 130 calendar days a year.
May 27, 2025: Musk criticizes the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda, saying he is “disappointed” in the president’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” in a CBS News interview, and that DOGE has become the “whipping boy for everything” in an interview with the Washington Post published May 27.
June 5, 2025: In response to Musk’s criticisms, Trump says he is “very disappointed” with Musk and signaled his close relationship with the former top White House adviser was over. Musk quickly fired back, saying Trump wouldn’t have won a second term were it not for the quarter of a million dollars in campaign cash he pumped into his 2024 campaign.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY.
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk, Donald Trump timeline: Key events before their public feud
