Two White House officials familiar with the matter said Trump expressed confusion and frustration in the meeting about Musk's attacks on his sweeping tax and spending bill. But he held back, the officials said, because he wanted to preserve Musk's political and financial support ahead of the midterm elections.
Musk had blasted Trump’s tax bill as fiscally reckless and a “disgusting abomination.” He vowed to oppose any Republican lawmaker who supported it. The bill would fulfill many of Trump’s priorities while adding, according to the Congressional Budget Office, $2.4 trillion to the $36.2-trillion U.S. public debt.
Sitting next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” in his former adviser. Musk quickly hit back on social media, and the back-and-forth devolved from there.
For months, Musk played both insider and disruptor - shaping policy conversations behind the scenes, amplifying Trump's agenda to millions online, and attacking the bureaucracy and federal spending through his self-styled Department of Government Efficiency.
Now he had not only left but had turned into a top critic. Hours after Trump’s Oval Office remarks, a third White House official expressed surprise at Musk’s turnaround. It “caught the president and the entire West Wing off guard,“ she said.
In a statement, the White House called the breakup an “unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
The Musk-Trump breakup sent Tesla's stock price plunging 14% on Thursday and drove uncertainty among Trump's allies in Congress, who are working to pass the monumental spending package that Democrats and a small number of vocal Republicans oppose.
For Musk, the stakes are potentially even higher. The break risks intensified scrutiny of his business practices that could jeopardize government contracts and invite regulatory probes, which might threaten his companies' profits.
The split had been simmering for weeks, said the first two White House officials, but the breaking point was over personnel: Trump's decision to pull his nomination of Jared Isaacman, Musk's hand-picked candidate to be NASA administrator.
Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and close Musk ally, was seen as key to advancing Musk’s vision for space exploration and commercial space ventures. After his nomination was scuttled, Isaacman posted on X: “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump, the Senate and all those who supported me.”
Before the Isaacman episode, top White House aides behind the scenes had already begun limiting Musk's influence — quietly walking back his authority over staffing and budget decisions. Trump himself reinforced that message in early March, telling his cabinet that department secretaries, not Musk, had the final say over agency operations.
His threats and complaints about Trump's bill grew louder, but inside the White House, few believed they would seriously alter the course of the legislation — even as some worried about the fallout on the midterms from Musk's warnings to cut political spending, the first two White House officials said.
“We’re very confident,“ he said. “No one has changed their minds.” But there was bafflement at the White House at how a relationship that only last week had been celebrated in the Oval Office had taken such a turn.
Time will tell whether the rift can be repaired. White House aides have scheduled a call between the two men on Friday.
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