Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s brutal social media feud explained as world left in shock

Donald Trump and Elon Musk's very public fallout has come as a shock to many.

From political besties to now warring parties, the pair's feud has escalated on social media in a pretty dramatic fashion.

With all sorts of accusations flying about, let's take a look at how this whole thing started.

How did the Trump and Musk feud start?

President Trump's proposed legislation, the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act', is a tax and spending package that has caused significant debate in Washington.

The bill, currently under consideration, extends significant tax cuts, exemptions, and spending adjustments.

Musk, who is now the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) following his recent departure, says it undermines everything he had been working on, calling it a 'disgusting abomination'.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have had a very public fallout (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

According to the Washington Post, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill would add approximately $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, as well as $550 billion in additional interest payments.

Trump's response to Musk's criticism of the 'One Big Beautiful Bill'

Following Musk's comments, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: "Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more."

The US President insisted that the SpaceX founder 'knew every aspect of this bill', adding: "He knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left.

"He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn't said bad about me personally, but I'm sure that'll be next, but I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot."

Musk, however, denied ever seeing the bill and said on X: "False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!"

The Tesla founder went on to claim that Trump would have 'lost the election' if it wasn't for his reported $288 million donation to the administration.

Musk's threat to 'decommission' Dragon spacecraft

Musk claims he donated millions to Trump's presidential campaign (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

When the President later threatened to terminate Musk's government subsidies and contracts, the SpaceX boss said that if this happened, he would decommission the Dragon spacecraft, which had brought home astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who had been stuck on the ISS for months.

He wrote on X: "In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately."

However, Musk has seemingly retracted this statement, as in a reply to a person urging him to 'take a step back for a couple of days' on X, he said: "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon."

Musk's Jeffrey Epstein 'bombshell'

Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump pictured in 1997 (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)

Musk took to the platform to issue a 'bombshell' about Trump's alleged association with Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking.

"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public," he wrote.

"Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out," he later added. However, Musk didn't provide any evidence for his claim.

The unsealed documents were part of a lawsuit filed against Epstein's partner and convicted sex trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2015 by the late Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of grooming and trafficking her to his associates.

The pair are no longer seeing eye to eye (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

According to The Guardian, the decision to release some of the documents was made by U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who ruled in her December order that much of the information contained within was already public knowledge.

Even if Trump is named in these documents, it does not automatically imply wrongdoing, the BBC reports.

In a statement to CNN, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Musk's claims an 'unfortunate episode'.

"This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again," Leavitt continued.

LADbible Group has contacted the White House for comment.