Musk bankrolled Trump’s presidential campaign by pumping in nearly $300 million for his election expenditure
The dramatic breakup between US President Donald Trump and his estranged supporter and billionaire Elon Musk hints at the fragility of their friendship and the conflict of interests between two of the world's most powerful individuals. It is too early to hazard a guess on who will be a big loser in this spat.
Musk bankrolled Trump’s presidential campaign by pumping in nearly $300 million for his election expenditure. He used his enormous clout on social media to project Trump as a messiah of the Americans. The distance grew ever since Trump showed his pro-oil industry tilt, which will harm Musk’s EV maker, Tesla Inc.
The feud escalated with Musk criticising Trump’s flagship initiative — the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act — which offered tax cuts and vast government spending in direct contravention of the mandate given to him to rein in government expenditure. Though Musk left his political innings over the OBBB Act, their camaraderie descended into a personal brawl within a few days, with both of them hurling insults at each other.
The Tesla CEO threatened to get Republicans, who supported the OBBB Act in the US Congress, defeated in the Congressional elections next year. He accused Trump of being named in the Epstein Files and called for his impeachment. Trump said he asked him to leave the government office. He threatened to withdraw billions of dollars in subsidies to Tesla and cancel US Federal contracts with SpaceX.
Some reports suggested that Trump’s refusal to appoint Musk’s associate Jared Isaacman as the Nasa chief over his donation to Democrats led to the final breakdown in the most powerful compact. If these reports are true, it would raise serious questions over the legitimacy of the role that business leaders play in politics around the world. While politicians and businesspeople have an umbilical relationship shaped by the election campaign’s need for donations, politicians must maintain a safe distance from profit-driven persons and entities to retain the credibility of democracy.
