Billionaire Feud Goes Viral: Trump and Musk Trade Barbs on X and Truth Social
Two of the world's most polarizing billionaires just turned social media into their personal thunderdome. Elon Musk and Donald Trump escalated their simmering tension this week with a series of public jabs—proving even the ultra-rich can't resist a good old-fashioned Twitter (now X) spat.
The verbal volleys started when Trump criticized Musk's handling of X's content moderation—prompting the Tesla CEO to fire back about 'failed political ventures.' Truth Social and X became battlegrounds for their egos, with neither side backing down.
Meanwhile, Wall Street barely blinked—after all, what's another billionaire feud when the S&P 500's busy hitting all-time highs on the backs of retail investors?
Trump and Musk exchange insults on X and Truth Social
The same Thursday afternoon, Musk went off on Trump in a long post, saying, “Without me, Trump WOULD have lost the election, Dems would control the House, and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” He followed that by posting that Trump should be impeached and replaced with Vance.
Musk then posted another accusation, claiming Trump was hiding files connected to Jeffrey Epstein. “The president is in the Epstein files,” Musk posted. “The truth will come out.”
Musk did not provide evidence. Trump has denied any connection to Epstein’s criminal actions, and there’s been no confirmation Musk’s claim is based on anything real.
Trump responded through Truth Social, saying Musk was “wearing thin” NEAR the end of his time as a special government employee and that he personally asked Musk to leave his administration. “I asked him to leave,” Trump wrote. Musk replied on X, calling that “an obvious lie.”
Vance also weighed in that day with a post on X backing Trump, saying he was “proud to stand beside him” and praised Trump as having “done more than anyone in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads.” That wasn’t just another endorsement—it was a direct signal that he wasn’t switching sides despite Musk’s impeachment talk.
White House tried to cool tension before podcast aired
According to someone who spoke to Vance ahead of the podcast, Trump didn’t want him to escalate things with Musk. The president told him not to fuel the fire further.
On the podcast, Vance said, “The president doesn’t think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk, and I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine.”
All this is happening less than a week after Trump and Musk were all smiles during a send-off inside the Oval Office for Musk’s exit from his government post. Musk had been brought in after the election to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, which was supposed to clean up bureaucratic waste. That plan went nowhere. The department flopped. And now Musk’s out and publicly turning on the same administration that gave him the job.
Trump says Musk flipped out because the spending bill cut electric vehicle incentives. “I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump posted. The president also said during a short Oval Office appearance on Thursday that Musk was “upset” over the loss of EV credits tied to Tesla’s bottom line.
Vance, now caught between Trump’s loyalty and Musk’s volatility, is trying to walk a tightrope without falling into the brawl himself. But his words made his position clear. Elon Musk picked a fight with the wrong person. And Vance isn’t interested in joining him.
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