What could be the consequences of Trump-Musk quarrel?

-Botted on German state radio dw-

In America, the quarrels between President Trump and Elon Musk are escalating. What could be the consequences?

A few days ago, they showed demonstratively in harmony with each other, but now this harmony is over-maybe forever. Elon Musk and Donald Trumppo exchange harsh charges. Meanwhile, Tesla’s shares are falling sharply.

Tesla’s executive director Elon Musk, and US President Donald Trump, have massively criticized each other. Musk, for example, supported the discharge procedures against Trump on his service of short X.

He reacted to the 14.3 percent decline in Tesla’s shares in the US stock market. The company lost $ 150 billion in value. Trump has previously wrote in social trutas that the simplest measures for the US budget would be to reduce « billions of billions of dollars » in subsidies and government contracts with Musk’s companies.

Planned Tax Law caused disputes

The disagreement between Musk and Trump is caused by a bill before the Senate. He proposes comprehensive tax and expense reforms. But they would also increase the national debt by trillions of dollars.

The House of Representatives approved the bill with a very small majority. Trump accused Musk of opposing the bill because he proposed relief for electric vehicles. Musk had justified his criticism with the federal deficit and called the bill a « disgusting thing ».

Trump has previously demonstrated the entrepreneur as part of the government. Musk has run the Doge cost reduction agency, cut thousands of jobs and provided billions of dollars in government contracts.

Musk’s threats

Trumpe publicly treated for the first time this controversy with Musk during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the White House. He said Musk was motivated by business interests. According to Trump, Musk had no problem with the law – until he realized that he also provided billions of dollars in subsidies for electric vehicles.

Musk called this a lie. The 53-year-old owner of the online platform X suggested that Republican Congress members should support it in the law vote.

« Trump has three and a half years left as president, and I will be here for more than 40 years, » he wrote. Muska made many posts on X, within a few hours and reminded the congressmen of the importance of the law.

With a net fortune of more than $ 300 billion, Musk is so far the richest person in the world. Last year, he allocated over $ 250 million in the Trump’s election campaign, despite being considered a supporter of Democrats.

Musk can use his money to fund Trump’s challengers and Congress members who can vote against the law

« Without me the Trump would have lost »

« Without me, Trump would have lost the election, » said Musk, who has supported Trump in some crucial federal states, such as Pennsylvania. Trump now said he would have easily won in Pennsylvania without Musk.

« Without me, Trump would have lost the election, » Musk wrote on X. « Such an ungratefulness, » he wrote and added: « It’s time to throw a really big bomb. »

He stated that Trump’s name appeared in data related to the affair and convict for sexual acts Jeffrey Epstein. « This is the real reason why it was not released, » Musk said.

Epstein died in a prison cell in New York in 2019. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recently declared that the financier, who had good connections in the Supreme Society, committed suicide. Trump’s Justice Department revealed some Epstein data in February. Musk did not give evidence of his claim. But while he was adviser to the government, he intervened in many issues that exceeded his scope of responsibility.

The president initially refrained from the commentary on the Epstein case. However, Trump’s trustees told CNN they did not believe their relationship could recover after Musk’s attack.

The dispute between the once narrow allies is now risking US space programs. Musk threatened to close the Dragon capsule of his Spacex spatial company.

It is the only American spaceship capable of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has been based on the spaceship since 2020 as part of a $ 5 billion contract with Spacex.

The Spacex and Musk Space Company holds US government contracts worth approximately $ 22 billion. Removing the « Dragon » capsule can destroy the ISS program.

Dozens of countries are included under an earlier international agreement. Spacex is also said to be significantly involved in several future US government programs, including transforming the program that serves as giant shields from space missiles.