Trump Musk "officially announced" breakup

Source: International Finance News

The relationship between US President Trump and the world's richest man Musk is breaking down at an astonishing speed, and the swearing on their respective social media is escalating.

The two just stood together in the Oval Office last week to announce their lasting friendship, but on Thursday sarcastically and insult each other in real time. The sadness, ungratefulness and disappointment that the two initially exuded quickly turned into mutual threats.

The rift between the two has been widening since Musk publicly opposed Trump's "big and American" bill on Tuesday. Musk called the bill a "disgusting and ugly move" that would surely destroy the U.S. finances. On Thursday afternoon EST, Musk posted on his X platform that Trump would never win back to the White House without his help.

Trump called the billionaire “crazy” and threatened to cancel his company’s federal contract. Musk fought back and retired the crucial Dragon spacecraft that supports the International Space Station. Tesla's stock price plummeted.

As the front row of melon-eating crowd, Liu Hui has sorted out the timeline of the two's breakup.

10:37 am ET

Musk kicked off his "X" campaign by retweeting a "report" from the Christian news satirical website The Babylon Bee on Thursday. Title is Congress warning that if the spending bill cannot be passed, the destruction of the state may be delayed

11:20 am ET

The billionaire directly slammed the president, retweeting a 2013 tweet that criticized the Republican Party for raising its debt ceiling. "It makes sense," Musk said.

11:46 am ET

Musk forwarded another Trump message from the past, which came from 2012, saying that no member of Congress should be re-elected if the U.S. budget is unbalanced.

At noon, Trump began to respond to Musk's criticism. “Eron was angry because we accepted the EV injunction, you know, it was a huge sum for electric cars,” he said. "They're making the electric vehicle industry difficult and wanting us to pay billions of dollars in subsidies. And, Elon knew that from the beginning."

He went on to say Musk understands the internal functioning of the bill. He said he and Musk had a good relationship—but the relationship may have ended.

"I'm very disappointed with Elon, I've helped Elon a lot."

12:11 PM ET

Musk suspended criticism, praising the president's decision to cut California's high-speed rail funds, saying it was a wise move.

But eight minutes later, Musk seemed to immediately respond to Trump's statement about the EV injunction: "Whatever." The Tesla CEO said he agreed to keep the EV subsidy cuts in the bill, but pointed out that oil and gas subsidies were not affected (it was "very unfair!!"). He also criticized the large amount of "political baggage" in the bill.

12:25 PM ET

Then, posts kept popping up. Musk said he had never seen the bill.

12:46 PM ET

Musk responded to X user Autism Capital touted his role in the election, saying that without him Trump would lose and Democrats would control the House. He then added: "It's so ungrateful. 1:37 PM ET

Musk retweeted a post from an X user named Wall Street Mav who said he hopes the dispute won’t hurt the billionaire’s relationship with Trump.

Musk then played a video of Trump touting Tesla in front of the White House. "Remember this?" Musk said, pointing at the president.

2:37 pm ET

Trump joined the debate on his “Truth Social” platform. He said he asked the billionaire to leave and Musk was "crazy".

The president immediately issued a huge threat to the world's richest man's company. He said the easiest way to save money is to cut Musk's government contracts. According to Bloomberg administration data, SpaceX and Tesla have earned $22.5 billion in revenue from federal non-confidential contracts since fiscal 2000.

2:48 PM ET

Musk responded to Trump's post: "This is a lie. It's so sad."

He then forwarded a tweet, suggesting that the termination of the government contract would lead to the dissolution of the International Space Station, with a smiley expression. "Come on, make me happy..." he said.

3:10 pm ET

Musk said "it's time to drop a real bombshell" hinting that Trump refused to release documents related to infamous New York financier Jeffrey Epstein because the president himself was there.

4:09 pm ET

Musk then issued a threat saying he would retire SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which is responsible for delivering cargo and personnel to the International Space Station for the United States.

As the quarrel continued into the afternoon, Tesla's stock price plummeted, and investors were panicking about the Tesla X platform.

Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Inc. urged someone to take Musk's cell phone away. As of the close, Tesla's stock price has fallen 14%, the biggest drop since March.