Trump-Musk's hatred sparks reaction from billionaires, politicians and experts

U.S. Presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk attended a news event held on May 30, 2025 at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

Donald Trump and Elon Musk seemed inseparable not long ago: attend events together, conduct joint interviews and praise each other. All of this changed overnight.

Trump and Musk traded barbs in a fairly open dispute, with the U.S. president threatening to withdraw billions of dollars in Musk's government contract, and Tesla CEO suggests Trump cannot win the election without him.

Hostiles began with Trump slamming Musk’s criticism of the Republican tax and spending bill and quickly escalated into a full-scale online fight to launch a full-scale fight against Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X, where famous businessmen, analysts and political names put pressure on the fight.

Technology and Politics

Billionaire Bill Ackman urged Trump and Musk to stop fighting on Thursday. Ackerman said on X that the two men should “realize peace for the good of our country.”

The founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management recognized Trump a few months before the November election, saying “We are much better together than we are apart”, Musk replied: “You are right.”

U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan told Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Thursday that he hopes Elon Musk and Trump will reconcile while defending the budget bill.

Others on Trump’s track, such as Steve Bannon, a former senior Trump adviser who clashed with Musk in recent months, is less reconciliated.

On Thursday's "War Room Live" program, Bannon said Trump should sign an execution order through a National Security Mobilization Act called the Defense Production Act to control SpaceX.

"The U.S. government should seize it," Bannon said, adding that the government should deprive Musk of its security permit and suspend all federal contracts with Musk, pending investigation.

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban appears to endorse a proposal by Musk, who surveyed his followers whether he “sets up a new party in the United States, which actually represents 80% of the middle”.

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang re-promoted the Cubans and later joined participants including Mark Cuban, Jamie Dimon and actor Matthew McConaughey to commit to the "Independent '28 Presidential Primary".

"Trump is stronger than Elon, but is far less capable," said Ian Bremmer of Eurasia in an article on X.

Tesla experts

Wall Street traders abandoned Tesla stock, sending them down 14%.

Dan Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush, said in a study that the conflict was “coveted and shocked the market” and created major fears for Tesla investors.

“Tesla’s stock is under significant pressure as investors fear that this Musk/Trump fight will stop their friendship and change Tesla’s regulatory environment in a few years under the Trump administration,” Ive said.

But, Ives added, spitting didn’t change Wedbush’s bullish view on Tesla, although “apparently it did make the Trump regulatory framework ointment fly flies.”

Ross Gerber, head of wealth and investment management at Gerber Kawasaki, said Elon "now attacks everyone who helps in power."

He said in a post: “Elon posted postal posts on Trump and Tesla Stock.

Future Fund managing director Gary Black recently said on X that the company had sold all Tesla stock, arguing that the Trump-Elon dispute would put further pressure on the stock, targeting the Tesla Bulls.

"The Bulls have believed for months that the Musk-Trump coalition will simplify the federal process by allowing TSLA to obtain general unsupervised autonomy permits nationwide. This prospect is highly unlikely now," he said in a post X.

David Rosenberg, president and founder of Rosenberg Research, believes Musk's SpaceX provides a huge lead in the U.S. dominance in space technology, and the ongoing disputes may erode its support.

Rosenberg told CNBC's Squawk Box: "This is uncertain for a variety of reasons, many of them cited the opposition from Elon Musk against the (spendence) bill.