Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s alliance continues to publicly implode, with the world’s richest man taking aim at the president’s signature economic policy — tariffs — and implying he should be removed from office.
“The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year,” Musk wrote on X Thursday afternoon. It marks Musk’s biggest criticism yet of one of Trump’s most beloved policies.
Musk also took aim at one of the president’s most-hated political maneuvers: impeachment. Responding to another post about who would win in a fight between Musk and Trump — which also calls for Trump to be impeached and for Vice President JD Vance to replace him — Musk simply responded: “Yes.”
Trump was impeached twice by a Democratic-controlled House during his first term, but was acquitted both times by the Senate.
Musk — who’s been launching back and forth attacks with Trump all day Thursday — has never been a big fan of Trump’s sweeping tariff plans, and publicly ridiculed Peter Navarro, one of the public faces of Trump’s trade war, while he was still a government employee.
The tariffs are set to have huge implications for Musk’s car company Tesla, because of the rising costs of materials and manufacturing abroad. The car company’s stocks took a dive following the tariff announcements, and were also impacted by Musk’s growing absence from the company during his time as Trump’s special adviser while leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
That said, Musk has called Tesla the “least affected” car company from the tariffs, due to supply chains being split between Europe, China and North America. But the Tesla CEO hasn’t shied away from bashing Trump’s trade advisers in the past — even labeling Navarro a “moron.”
In addition to railing against the tariffs, Musk has spent the last three days rallying against the administration's “big beautiful bill,” which he called “disgusting” and “pork-filled” in a flood of X posts — urging Senate Republicans to reject the mega-funding legislation.
Trump hit back early Thursday, saying he was “disappointed” by Musk’s comments.
“Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Upon return to their respective social media sites, the two turned up the heat. What has since ensued has been a barrage of X posts from the billionaire and corresponding Truth Social posts from the president that have widened a chasm between the two — who just last Friday stood side by side at the Oval Office on Musk’s last day in the White House, as Trump thanked him for his service.
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