On Tuesday morning, Donald Trump resumed his battle against his former friend and supporter. On Truth Social, he launched a missile against his former ally Elon Musk:
Elon may be receiving more subsidies than any human being in history, by far. Without that, he would probably have to close up shop and go back to South Africa.
Not a jab? No. A declaration of war.
Recall: in 2024, Trump, freshly re-elected, appointed Elon Musk to head a tailor-made department, the “Department of Government Efficiency”, dubbed “DOGE”. The goal: cut public spending.
But since Musk’s dramatic departure from the administration in May, everything has collapsed. Musk accuses Trump of increasing the debt “like never before in history”. Meanwhile, Trump insinuates that Musk has gorged on public money. The love story is over, time for a showdown.
The twist is that Trump is now asking DOGE, the institution he entrusted to Musk, to investigate… Musk himself.
“More rockets, more satellites, more electric cars…” writes Trump. “Our country would save a FORTUNE.”
Immediate result: Tesla’s stock drops nearly 5% in pre-market trading. And the message is clear: Trump wants to hit where it hurts, the wallet.
On X, Elon responds promptly: “I literally demand that it ALL BE CUT.”
A total disavowal of government subsidies? Or a political maneuver to save face?
What we do know is that the numbers speak for themselves:
– Tesla has received over $2.8 billion in public subsidies.
– SpaceX is now the official space arm of the US government, with multiple billion-dollar contracts.
– And according to the Financial Times, Musk’s companies live off around $20 billion in public orders.
This Trump-Musk clash is not just a billionaire drama. It illustrates a deeper flaw in American economic policy: the increasing dependence of private innovation on public funds… and the power it gives to those who benefit from it.
Trump knows it. Musk does too. And what about the markets? They are already freaking out.
