Trump and Musk openly engage in a war of words

On June 5, US President Trump and billionaire Musk publicly engaged in a “war of words” on the 5th, and the two people’s attacks on each other became more and more intense that day. Trump called Musk “crazy” and Musk called Trump “ungrateful.” Musk, who had just left his position as the head of the US government’s efficiency department, posted a series of posts on social media on the 5th regarding the “big and beautiful” bill, saying “You either get a big and ugly bill or a small and beautiful bill. Small and beautiful is the way to go.” Trump responded that Musk’s dissatisfaction stemmed from the bill’s proposal to cancel tax credits for electric vehicle consumers, which affected Musk’s interests as the CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla. “Look, Elon and I used to have a good relationship. I don’t know if we will be like this in the future,” Trump said at the White House. “I am very disappointed in Elon. I have helped Elon a lot.” Musk responded by posting again: “If it weren’t for me, Trump would lose the election” and “so ungrateful.” Trump countered that he could still win the election without Musk. Trump said in the post that he let Musk leave because he saw that Musk was “exhausted.” He was going “crazy”. But Musk responded that this was “obviously a lie, so sad”. “The easiest way to save billions of dollars in the budget is to terminate Musk’s government subsidies and contracts. I’ve always been surprised that Biden didn’t do this!” Trump wrote. Musk also expressed dissatisfaction in the post with Trump’s withdrawal of Jared Isaacman’s nomination for NASA. Musk and Isaacman have been allies for many years. After Trump criticized Musk, Tesla’s stock price closed down 14.26% on the 5th. Tesla’s stock price has fallen by more than 30% so far this year. Musk was a staunch ally of Trump and spent nearly $300 million to support Trump’s 2024 campaign. After Trump won the presidential election, Musk joined the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, which is responsible for monitoring bureaucratic corruption and reducing the national debt. The work of the Department of Government Efficiency has led to large-scale layoffs in the federal government, billions of dollars in foreign aid and other projects have been cut, and has caused huge controversy in the United States. Previously, Musk has repeatedly criticized the “Big and Beautiful” bill as “disgusting” on social media, and White House officials expressed “shock” and said it would not change Trump’s progress in promoting the bill. After continuously bombarding the “big and beautiful” bill, Musk also launched a survey on social media on the 5th with the theme “Is it time to create a new political party in the United States that truly represents 80% of centrists?” The survey received more than 510,000 votes in about an hour.