Bromance over: Musk accuses Trump of being in Epstein files   BY Michael Koziol

 

Washington: Tensions between Donald Trump and his former “first buddy” Elon Musk have erupted into open warfare, with the US president suggesting Musk has a version of “Trump derangement syndrome”, and Musk sensationally claiming, without evidence, that Trump is named in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

As the falling out intensified, Trump for the first time claimed he asked Musk to leave his government post, and said the government should terminate contracts with and subsidies for Musk’s companies.

“Elon was ‘wearing thin’, I asked him to leave, 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 wrote on TruthSocial.

Musk responded via a post on X: “Such an obvious lie. So sad.”

He later added: “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

Musk has a history of making or amplifying false claims and allegations. He offered no evidence to support his claim about the still-unreleased Justice Department files. The White House has been contacted for comment.

It is no secret Trump was an associate of Epstein before the pair had a falling out. The New York financier died by suicide in 2019 while incarcerated to face sex-trafficking charges. Epstein had already been convicted of procuring an underage prostitute after pleading guilty in 2008.

The friendship between the world’s most powerful man and its richest has crumbled swiftly since Musk officially left his White House post on Friday and proceeded to unleash a campaign against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which extends Trump’s first-term tax cuts and raises the US debt ceiling by trillions.

While predicted by some from the outset, the breakdown in the relationship is significant because of the Tesla chief’s continued reach and influence and his clear desire to tank Trump’s top domestic priority.

“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will any more,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday (Friday AEST).

“He was here for a long time. You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval [Office] desk ... He said wonderful things about me. He’s worn the hat, ‘Trump was right about everything’. And I am right about the great big beautiful bill.”

 

Trump said he was surprised by Musk’s barrage of criticism, but asserted that the Tesla chief was upset because the bill cuts a Biden-era electric vehicle mandate that was a boon for his business.

“All of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed a problem when he found out we were going to have to cut the EV mandate,” Trump said.

“I can understand that, but he knew every aspect of this bill, he knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left.

“He hasn’t said bad [things] about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

 

Trump went on to argue that Musk might be suffering withdrawal symptoms from the prestige and power of being in the White House and proximate to the president.

“I think he got out and all of a sudden he wasn’t in this beautiful Oval Office. He’s got nice offices too, but there’s something about this one,” Trump said.

“He’s not the first. People leave my administration and they love us. And then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile.

“I don’t know what it is, it’s sort of ‘Trump derangement syndrome’. They leave, and they wake up in the morning and the glamour’s gone, the whole world is different, and they become hostile.”

 

Trump also suggested Musk was upset because the administration withdrew its support for Jared Isaacman, a fintech billionaire and former Democratic donor, to become the head of space agency NASA.

Musk: ‘Without me, Trump would have lost’

Musk was reacting to Trump’s remarks in real time on his social media platform X. In response to the president saying Musk knew the One Big Beautiful Bill Act better than anyone, Musk posted: “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.”

Musk spent nearly $US300 million campaigning for Trump and GOP candidates at last year’s election, either directly or through his political action groups.

 

On Friday AEST he said: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election. Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate ... Such ingratitude.”

Since formally departing the so-called Department of Government Efficiency on Friday with a friendly Oval Office farewell, Musk has been raging against the budget bill, arguing it increases the budget deficit and is fiscally irresponsible.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would add $US2.4 trillion to the deficit, with $US3.7 trillion in tax cuts offset by $US1.3 trillion in spending reductions.

The bill is Trump’s key domestic policy priority and must be passed by both houses of Congress before he can sign it. It passed the House of Representatives by a single vote, 215-214, and though the Republicans have a majority in the Senate, its passage is not guaranteed.

 

Musk has this week urged his 220 million followers on X to lobby their senators to “kill the bill”, and said any members of Congress who voted for it should be turfed out of office at next year’s midterm elections.

As the fighting devolved, Trump suggested the US government should cancel billions of dollars worth of contracts with and subsidies for Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX.

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/bromance-over-tensions-between-trump-and-musk-erupt-into-open-warfare-20250606-p5m5cz.html

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaU2qUR2H3

Musk Drops BOMB: "Trump Is In The Epstein Files"

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.