President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s public breakup broke the internet this week, sparking several concerns and questions about the two most powerful men in the world, a political historian says.
What began earlier this week as a seemingly slow unraveling of a close relationship between Trump and his billionaire adviser quickly imploded on Thursday into a real-time public spat on social media.
Trump had said earlier in the day that he was “very disappointed” in Musk for harshly criticizing his so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, cut federal spending by nearly $1.3 million with cuts to Medicaid and other social programs, and leave about 10.9 million more people without health insurance, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Things took a turn hours later when Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Musk “went CRAZY.” The Tesla CEO responded by charging on his platform X, formerly Twitter, that the reason the Jeffrey Epstein files haven’t been released is because Trump is in them. “Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk wrote.
The head-spinning fallout ramped up when Musk went on to suggest that Trump should be impeached. The president then threatened to cancel Musk’s government contracts.
Trump has since reportedly indicated on Friday that he’s not interested in talking to Musk.
What happens next is unclear. But Thursday’s dispute should concern everyone, said Matt Dallek, a political historian and professor at The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University.
Dallek said Thursday’s online debacle was “pretty remarkable” and “especially vicious” considering Musk arguably had “more power in the administration than even the vice president.”
But the incident spurred one crucial question, according to Dallek: Why did both men even have time to engage in such a spectacle?
“Musk has like six major businesses, he’s the richest man in the world, and Trump is president of the United States — and they’re spending pretty much the entire day insulting each other… on social media,” he said.
“I think it’s actually worrying for the country that basically, arguably the two most powerful people in the country are having this public meltdown,” he continued. “What does it say about their ability to govern? Or frankly, for Musk to lead his businesses?”
Dallek said that he believes Thursday’s public feud also raises questions about each of their “competence.”
“This is where their energy is going,” he said.
But Dallek didn’t necessarily think their fallout was “totally inevitable” — certainly not the way things played out on Thursday.
“I think what was more likely, in some ways, was a slower, quieter parting of ways,” he said, but “that’s obviously not what happened.”
The massive blowup, which Dallek called “deeply irrational,” can be contributed to the fact that Trump and Musk “each have a lot of power — Trump, I think, has a lot more than Musk — but they each have a lot of power,” he said. “They also have a lot to lose.”
Overall, Thursday’s social media drama between a world leader and the richest man in the world — who has led the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — should be concerning for people across the globe, Dallek said.
“Do you really want the president spending an entire day focused on a highly personal public feud? With the richest man in the world? And that’s where his energies are going, that’s where his mental space is?” he said. “As opposed to staying focused on this legislation that he’s trying to pass, or on peace between Ukraine and Russia… or tariffs, or the economy, or to lower the cost of living?”
“You have a leader — of whether it’s a country or a business — and they’re spending all their time engaged in a feud… I mean [Trump’s] basically acting like a 2-year-old,” Dallek said. “Yet he’s got a finger on the nuclear button… it’s concerning.”