The Musk-Trump break-up isn’t about principle – it’s a spat about grabbing profits

Oh, to be a fly on the wall at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or perhaps, a fly caught in the hair plugs of businessman Elon Musk, when the bromance of the decade imploded like one of Tesla’s semi-trucks on an icy incline.

The latest billionaire bar brawl in the headlines features Musk, the perma-pivoting tech pope of libertarian X, calling for Trump to be impeached. The same Trump he recently drenched in cash, MAGA merchandise and Muskian praise. The same Trump who fluffed him with a fictional cabinet post, handed him the budget knife and parroted his absurd claims about a “white genocide” in South Africa.

Now, it has all gone sideways.

What happened? A lovers’ quarrel over tariffs and taxes? Did the stock market plunge too deep for Musk’s brittle ego to absorb? Is something deeper brewing, something obscured behind the patriotic hashtags and choreographed punch-ups?

It's just awful when you buy a guy a perfectly good election, and he won't even do whatever you want. pic.twitter.com/x7k6luDhGc— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) June 5, 2025

The year of living deliriously

It had become clear by late 2024 that Musk and Trump were locked in a full-throttle bromance. Joe Biden, the US president and Democratic Party candidate, had withdrawn from the race after a humiliating debate defeat.

Musk, who once...

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