Elon Musk and Donald Trump are in open power struggle

The German Chancellor was not actively involved in this spectacular eruption of the « epic struggle », as the « Washington Post » wrote. But Friedrich Merz witnessed when he visited the Oval Office when the US President took the abrupt break with his former « First Buddy », campaign finance and doge saving commissioner Elon Musk.

« I am very disappointed with Elon ». In the presence of the world press, Trump made the dramatic end of this dazzling friendship with these words, which has put the stamp on the first few months from Trump’s new term. « Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if that will still be, » said Trump in the Oval Office.

This explanation was preceded by days of hostile social media entries of the richest man in the world that was only adopted a week ago. After leaving his function as a special consultant in the White House and head of the dreaded Doge saving unit, Musk violently criticized the budget law brought in by Trump.

It is currently going through the congress and, according to Musks, will drive the US public debt up to $ 2.5 trillion. Musk titled the controversial law on his platform X as « disgusting hideousness » and thus opened the spectacular exchange of blows.

Observer: Break was inevitable

Trump claimed in front of reporters that Musk was known to every detail of this law. « He knew the draft better than almost everyone and had a problem with it until shortly after leaving, » said Trump literally. In doing so, he triggered a bitter war on the two social media channels from Musk and Trump, which escalated to the verbal field battle within hours.

Musk contradicted Trump immediately and wrote on X: « False! This draft law was not shown to me once and he was said goodbye so quickly overnight that almost nobody could read him in the congress at all. » Musk accused Trump ungrateful for his campaign aid of $ 275 million. « Without me, Trump would have lost the choice, » Musk etched.

This gained a conflict of dramatic sharpness, which was created from the beginning of the partnership that had been going on for about a year. Musk had been in the scene as a dazzling patron of Trump’s election campaign since the assassination attempt on Trump in July 2024 and had then no longer had given way to Trump. Observers also suspected because of the conflicting psychosocial structure of the two power -conscious “alpha animals” that there must be a dispute or even an open power struggle.

The first break lines emerged when Musk whipped with his Doge employees through ministries and government institutions and increasingly attracted the annoyance of the Republican MPs and Senators with arbitrary mass layoffs. Many observers saw the United States on the way to the oligarchy because of this alliance between state power and private major capital.

Tech-Mogul Musk was exposed to the accusation of looking for proximity to Trump, out of interest in reducing state regulation for his companies and thus out of economic self-interest.

White house wants to convey

The characteristic rhetoric gained driving during Thursday when Trump Musk threatened to terminate state subsidies and contracts. Musk then announced that his spacecring dragon is out of service – which he later revoked.

However, the political Washington suddenly became aware of what economic explosive power lies in the twist between the richest man in the world and the most politically powerful man in the world. NASA has long since been dependent on the SpaceX company Musks. « SpaceX has become the linchpin of the entire US civilian and military space travel, » writes the « New York Times ».

The space agency is dependent on the spacecraft dragon to transport astronauts, food and other supply goods to the international space station. Musk, which is CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and the AI ​​company Xai, has government orders worth several billion dollars and claims to be able to insist on the change of federal regulations.

In order to prevent another escalation in this end « The Bromance between Trump and Musk » (Washington Post), which was also characterized by power -intended -term instincts, the White House now wants to try to defuse the explosive conflict. He could still draw dangerous circles politically and economically.