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Tesla gets caught in the crossfire of Musk and Trump’s ugly divorce [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-06-05
President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk are on the rocks, and neither one is coming out of it looking good.
Since stepping down from his role with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has been waging a war on Trump’s budget, making it harder for him to get his prized piece of legislation passed. But Trump’s public swipe—saying he’s “very disappointed with Elon”—has had an immediate consequence for the billionaire: He’s losing money.
Tesla shares dropped by more than 14% after their spat began on Thursday, erasing part of a 22% rally in May despite sluggish sales.
It’s more bad news for Tesla, which is limping out of a rough quarter marked by slumping sales in California, China, and Europe, even as the overall electric vehicle market grows. Revenue is falling, Trump’s tariffs are raising investor anxiety, and Musk’s semi-sabbatical to run DOGE certainly didn’t help. While he was busy slashing federal jobs and gutting public programs, Tesla was losing market share, investor confidence, and—judging by recent protests—public goodwill.
And now that the bromance is over, there may be a price to pay for publicly defying Trump. According to CNBC, Tesla shares have dropped at least 12% this week as Musk continues to bash Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.” For the year, stock is down by more than 20% and well off its December 18 peak of $488.54.
A protester holds a sign that reads, “Don’t buy swasticars” outside of a Tesla vehicle dealership in Georgia.
Musk is quickly finding out that you’re damned if you go against Trump, and you’re damned if you don’t.
The fallout began after Musk denounced Trump’s budget bill—a wildly unpopular package that would slash food assistance, strip health insurance from millions, and risk tanking the U.S. economy—all to give tax cuts to the wealthy.
Trump claims that Musk’s opposition is personal, blaming it on the bill’s elimination of EV tax credits and his decision to block Musk’s pick to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman, who was awaiting Senate confirmation.
But Musk fired back on X.
“Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill. In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful,” he posted.
He also claimed that, without his help, Trump would have lost the 2024 presidential election
“Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” wrote Musk, who poured more than $250 million into Trump’s 2024 campaign, making him the biggest financial backer.
As the back-and-forth dragged on, things only got frostier. Trump threatened to strip Musk of government contracts and subsidies as part of his budget cuts. Musk, in turn, made a thinly veiled threat that he’ll be around to cause headaches far longer than Trump will be. He also claimed, without evidence, that Trump is named in “the Epstein files,” alleging that that’s “the real reason they have not been made public.”
Before this, Musk threatened to help primary challengers against Republicans who voted for the bill, which he called a “disgusting abomination”—a sharp shift in tone from Trump’s onetime “first buddy” and agenda financier.
Will Musk back off now that his quarrel with Trump is hitting his wallet? Who knows. But this fight is juicy, and no one’s walking away clean.
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