Rocky Road: Musk and Trump's heated exchanges
Musk removes a post discussing Trump in the Epstein documents
Things took a turn for the worse on a stormy Thursday between tech maverick Elon Musk and the U.S. President, Donald Trump. Their verbal tussle heated up, with Musk implying Trump's alleged connection to the lurid Epstein affair. By morning, Musk's incendiary comment on his platform X had mysteriously vanished.
Musk hinted that Trump's name might be lurking in the shadowy Epstein files, a scandalous saga involving the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Known for his association with Trump in Florida, Epstein was accused of exploiting underage girls and young women, and even connecting them to powerful figures like Prince Andrew of Britain [1].
Musk's X post, however, lacked concrete details or evidence to back his claims. Trump's name did appear in the released Epstein documents, but they fell short of incriminating the current president [2].
Trump, a proponent of full disclosure, had previously urged for the release of more documents during his campaign. Yet, no substantial action was taken [3]. Post his dispute escalation, Musk suggested that the documents weren't released because Trump's name was mentioned in them.
Musk, once a supporter of Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, had allegedly contributed approximately $280 million (equivalent to around $245 million) to his campaign [4]. In 2024, he was appointed as a special advisor following Trump's election victory, tasked with spearheading mass reductions in the government apparatus. However, Musk stepped down from the advisory position by the end of May [5].
Since then, Musk has been vocal about his disagreements with Trump's tax policies, claiming they would send America spiraling into bankruptcy and perpetual debt [6].
Musk lays into Trump
Coinciding with the visit of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to Washington, the severing of ties between the world's most influential man and the world's richest man took place on Thursday. Trump remarked that his ex-ally had lost his marbles after Musk declared that Trump would've lost the election in November without him [7].
Meanwhile, Musk posed a poll to his over 220 million X followers, questioning the possibility of creating a new political party. In response, Trump voiced no intentions of reconciling with Musk just yet [8]. ABC News reported that Trump was unfazed by the prospect of a conversation with Musk [8].
- Donald Trump
- Elon Musk
- Jeffrey Epstein
- Sexual harassment
- USA
- Conspiracy theories
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/heres-what-weve-learned-jeffrey-epstein-scandal-n1063076[2] https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/10/20758416/jeffrey-epstein-documents-aclu-release[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/us/politics/trump-department-jeffrey-epstein.html[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/04/musks-contribution-trump-campaign-may-have-been-largest-single-2020-cycle/[5] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-05/trump-faces-exodus-of-tech-executives-parting-ways-with-president[6] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/elon-musk-calls-trump-tax-plan-a-disaster-for-the-american-taxpayer.html[7] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-elon-musk-thinks-has-lost-his-mind-after-n1261945[8] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ap- sources-trump-won-t-discuss-elon-musk-78132279
- Despite his former alliance with President Trump, Elon Musk suggested that the documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's scandalous association with powerful figures might have been withheld due to Trump's name being mentioned in them, hinting at a possible political conspiracy.
- In response to Musk's poll about creating a new political party, Trump maintained his reluctance to reconcile, showing indifference to the prospect of a conversation with the world's richest man.
