Headline Roundup • June 5th, 2025
As Musk and Trump Feud, What Comes Next?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are in a war of words on social media. Here's the latest in the feud and commentary on how the relationship deteriorated.
The Latest: While taking questions from reporters Thursday morning, Trump said he was disappointed to hear Musk’s criticism of the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” saying, “People leave my administration and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly… some of them become hostile. It’s Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Musk responded quickly on X, writing, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election.” Musk also accused Trump of involvement with Jeffery Epstein and responded to a tweet suggesting Trump deserves impeachment. Trump then threatened to cut Musk's government subsidy contracts.
Should Democrats Woo Musk? An opinion piece in The New Republic (Left) said Democrats are “giddy” about the “battle royale” because of the potential to bring him over to their side. It quoted Rep. Ron Khanna (D-CA) saying, “We should ultimately be trying to convince him that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with… A commitment to science funding, a commitment to clean technology, a commitment to seeing international students like him.”
Why Republicans are Disappointed: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Lean Right) expressed disappointment at the GOP's apparent loss of Musk as an ally, whose space contract “forced NASA and the Pentagon to raise their game on rockets and much more.” It also said, “The shame is that Mr. Musk tried to shake up a government that needs it.”
What This Means for the Budget: The Hill (Center) wrote that the heated exchange came at “a fraught time for Trump’s agenda bill,” which may not pass by Republicans’ self-imposed July 4 deadline. The bill can only afford to lose the votes of three Republicans, and The Hill counts Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY.) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) as likely to vote against it.
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
On Thursday afternoon, Elon Musk called President Trump a pedophile.
There are many layers to the extremely online (and extremely entertaining) feud between the president and a man who, until a few days ago, was one of his most loyal backers, but I don’t want that to get lost, so I’ll say it again: Elon Musk called Donald Trump a pedophile. (He did this while simultaneously taking credit for making him president. Like I said: There are layers.)
Democrats are understandably giddy about the battle royale happening between Trump and Musk, who...
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Too bad we didn’t set up an office pool in January. Someone could have cleaned up choosing the closest date for the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Elon Musk. This pair of modest egos were never a good match for the long haul, and on Thursday their breakup turned into “The War of the Roses.”
It certainly makes for entertaining political theater, at least for Democrats. First came Mr. Musk’s broadside against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as an “abomination.” Mr. Trump replied that he was disappointed but that...
A DISAGREEMENT OVER PUBLIC POLICY between President Trump and Elon Musk took a personal and nasty turn on Thursday, as their once-friendly working relationship imploded in spectacular fashion.
The recriminations started off mild, but escalated dramatically by the end of the day, with Trump threatening to cut Musk’s government contracts and Musk alleging that Trump has ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Early in the day, while taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office,Trump weighed in on Musk’s sharp criticism of the GOP’s spending bill, which faces a tough path through the Senate over concerns...
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