The spat intensified when Musk wrote on X that Trump would have lost the election without him and typed "thanks for nothing" to what he called "ingratitude." Trump swiftly hit back on Truth Social, calling Musk "annoying and crazy." The dispute escalated when Trump said he would endeavor to cancel government contracts with Musk's firms.



In response, Musk has threatened to scrap the Dragon spacecraft, which is essential for US space missions. But he retracted that after he was told to de-escalate the situation. Musk replied, "We are not going to take Dragon apart," indicating that the tensions were coming down a little, but were still simmering.



Budget Discord Erupts Into Fallout
The catalyst for the fight is Trump's budget proposal, which calls for massive tax cuts, a surge in defense spending, and an infusion of cash for both immigration and border security. Described as the "big beautiful bill," it runs more than a thousand pages long and may raise the US budget deficit by $2.4 trillion.



The bill was opposed by Musk, who has been lobbying against the type of government spending the bailout would provide. He previously ran a task force called DOGE that was focused on reducing bureaucracy. Two million civil servant positions were eliminated and several programs were defunded under his adminis.