Trump vs. Musk: Why your mud fight is harmful to both

Tech billionaire Elon Musk should have been deleted from the guest list for galas in the White House until further notice. His dusting with US President Donald Trump has been a main topic in the United States for days. The public sludge battle could cause severe damage to both men if they are not quickly reconciled.

On the one hand, Trump says: a president who shows an unprecedented desire to use the lever of power for attacks against his opponents. On the other hand, Musk: The richest man in the world, with a business empire, is of great importance for the US economy and the space industry.

“I have never seen two people of this caliber argue so viciously,” says Chaim Siegel, chief analyst at the New York financial service provider Elazar Advisors. “It can not be good for any side.” Nevertheless, the “struggle of the titans”, as US media call it, has a high entertainment value. “Get the popcorn out,” jokes Siegel.

Trump’s environment fears that the chaotic break with musk could have negative consequences for the legacy of the almost 79-year-old and the opportunities of his Republican party in the important intermediate elections for the congress in November 2026. After all, Musk with its online service X controls the most important echo chamber of Trump’s Maga movement (Make America Great Again, makes America great again). At the same time, the government’s relationships with the mighty bosses from the Silicon Valley could suffer.

Musk also threatens to be driven. Trump threatens to delete the lucrative subsidies and government contracts of the tech mogul. Theoretically, this could drive his weakening electric car manufacturer Tesla into ruin. In addition, around $ 22 billion (a good 19 billion euros) in public funds for Musk’s space company SpaceX are at stake.

The trigger for the twist was Musk’s disappointment with Trump’s budget package that the Senate still has to say goodbye. The “large, beautiful law” (“Big Beautiful Bill”), as the President calls it, provides extended tax reliefs for Trump’s clientele, especially for rich. Musk recently criticized increasing sharpness, the plans drove public debt to a new record level and “America in bankruptcy”. Trump then called Musk “crazy.

The dispute has again revealed how fragile the coalition between Trump’s right-wing populist Maga movement and the musk-friendly “tech-bros”, which has secured the president with their money and sometimes also podcasts. Team Trump or Team Musk is now the question.

The fight is run without bandages: Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon is already calling for the deportation of the South African Musk native. In addition, reports on the alleged drug abuse of the tech entrepreneur suddenly appeared in US media. Previously, Musk had dared to do the previously unthinkable: he supported the call of an X-user according to an office procedure against Trump.

Republicans in the congress are increasingly concerned and demand a ceasefire between the two men. “I hope that it will quickly clarify for the benefit of the country,” said the spokesman for the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, the broadcaster CNBC.

Trump’s party fears for her benefices. After all, Musk had joined the Maga movement around a year ago and supported her in the election campaign with an estimated $ 280 million. As a thank you, Trump made him his special advisor and commissioned him with massive savings in the state apparatus, which, however, met with criticism across party. Musk gave up the consultant post at the end of May.

Musk has promised another $ 100 million for the interim elections in the coming year. Now it is unclear whether the money will ever flow.

His megaphone X used Musk for a kind of distrust vote against Trump. “Is it time to found a new political party in America that really represents 80 percent in the middle?” Musk asked his more than 220 million followers. The answer of more than 5.6 million participants of the vote was clear: a good 80 percent were right with yes.