American Politics > Trump and Musk - Like a back-alley, adolescent, street fight

 

Why is it that Trump and Musk, arguably two highly intelligent, powerful men, use phrases that come straight out of adolescence?

Elon Musk drops ‘really big bomb,’ accuses Trump of being in Epstein files as public brawl escalates

By 

Josh Christenson,

 

Steven Nelson and

 

Diana Glebova

Published June 5, 2025, 3:41 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk went low in his rapidly escalating feud with President Trump Thursday, accusing him of withholding information from the public about the infamous sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein because it would implicate Trump himself.

“Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk posted on X after a multi-hour tirade against the president. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.”

“That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he claimed. “Have a nice day, DJT!”

Elon Musk accused President Trump of being in the Epstein files.

Getty Images

The Justice Department in February released more than 100 pages of Epstein’s phone contacts and flight logs in a “Phase One” disclosure that disappointed internet sleuths hoping for bombshell revelations.

The disgraced financier’s association with Trump has been known for years as the two were videotaped and photographed together at parties in the 1990s, and the initial batch of DOJ-released files revealed the president’s name in flight logs as well as some family members — including Trump’s first wife Ivana and daughter Ivanka — as Epstein contacts.

Aides privately have acknowledged that the president’s association with Epstein likely would resurface in a fuller release of files — though they don’t believe that any alleged wrongdoing by Trump is described.

“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”

The contact list and flight logs appeared to be pulled directly from Epstein’s “little black book,” one of which was made public in 2021 during his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial and another of which was auctioned off.

That 1990s-era contact list contains 349 names, 221 of which weren’t included in a 2015 revealing of Epstein associates by the website Gawker.

The black book being auctioned off reportedly contains 94 printed entries with “black, hand-applied checkmarks, and five have been highlighted in yellow,” according to Alexander Historical Auctions.

“All five names, including that of Donald Trump, are well-recognized financial and industrial figures,” the online auctioneer’s webpage notes.

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Here is the latest on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s feud

• Elon Musk drops ‘really big bomb,’ accuses Trump of being in Epstein files as public brawl escalates
• Trump sounds off on Elon Musk after billionaire blasted prez’s ‘big beautiful bill’
• Tesla shares tumble as Trump, Musk escalate attacks: ‘Elon’s politics continue to harm stock’
• Musk escalates Trump feud with pointed election dig after blasting prez’s ‘big, beautiful, bill’
• President threatens to cut ‘Billions and Billions of Dollars’ in federal funding for Elon Musk’s companies as feud goes nuclear

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Online conspiracists have long speculated that high-power “clients” of Epstein visited his private island Little St. James in the Caribbean, where many young women and underage girls were allegedly abused.

Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Prince Andrew are just some of the famous passengers the financier flew on other trips aboard his private plane, later nicknamed the “Lolita Express.”

Epstein was found dead with bedsheets around his neck in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on Aug. 10, 2019, just over a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges.

Last September, Trump said he’d have “no problem” releasing more official files related to Epstein if elected — including the deceased pedophile’s so-called “client list.” 

“I don’t think – I mean, I’m not involved,” he noted. “I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”

Earlier Thursday, Trump threatened to cut federal subsidies to Musk’s Tesla.

AP

The president reportedly banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2007 over an incident with a club member’s teen daughter.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has demanded the complete files be turned over to the DOJ after hinting at the FBI’s New York Field Office being “in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”

The ravings of the world’s richest man, who until last month led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting crusade, shocked official Washington and set off speculation about Musk’s state of mind. 

One source close to the White House explained Musk’s behavior by saying that he “fundamentally has an unstable, uncontrollable element to his personality and he lashes out.”

“He’s had similar outbursts when running his companies. Sometimes greatest strength can also be greatest weakness,” this person said.

“Revenge, yes. Also, he wanted not just [electric vehicle] mandates [in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act] but a level of exclusivity for Tesla on the American EV market. And he didn’t want fresh competitors like Faraday Future & others to cramp his style.”

A second source close to the administration said there was a 50/50 chance Musk was either “just throwing a temper tantrum” or “creating distance [from Trump] thinking it’ll help [Tesla] stock price.”

A third source noted: “If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hang out with him for six months and say he ‘loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?’”

Democrats grab popcorn

Democrats watched the social media food fight with glee Thursday after months of flailing for traction amid unified Republican government in Washington — as Trump threatened to end billions in federal funding for SpaceX and Tesla, while Musk’s opposition threatened to tank Trump’s bill to implement campaign pledges to ax taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.

“The Trump-Musk feud is like a reality TV episode of the ‘Real Housewives’, only with less stable people,” snarked Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic National Committee man from New York.

“It is just further proof this is all personal and about lining their own pockets and no one is actually doing what is good for the American people,” jabbed a high-ranking former Biden White House official.

A congressional Democratic source noted that Musk was Trump’s top financial backer in the 2024 election, making the sudden onset and ferocity of the feud even more shocking.

“Now that the Trump experiment to use the richest man in the world as his cash cow drone has failed, Trump must recalibrate or this will be a real problem for him, politically and personally,” the source said.

“For Donald Trump to have not seen this coming makes you both question everything, and worry.”

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Global Economics > Recession - Global and American, and crisis with US dollar coming; War in the White House - Musk and Navarro

 

JPMorgan sounds global recession alarm

Sweeping tariffs on the majority of US trading partners will “likely push” the global economy into recession, according to the investment bank

©  Michael Nagle/Getty Images

JPMorgan has raised the probability of a global recession to 60% in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping new tariffs, which have unsettled financial markets and heightened concerns about a global trade war.

“The risk of recession in the global economy this year is raised to 60%, up from 40%,” JPMorgan chief economist Bruce Kasman wrote in a note to clients titled “There will be blood,” as quoted by Bloomberg.

Kasman also called the tariffs the largest tax hike on US households and businesses since 1968 and warned that the consequences could be far-reaching. “The effect of this tax hike is likely to be magnified – through retaliation, a slide in US business sentiment, and supply chain disruptions,” he added.

Read more

 Major global bank warns of potential dollar crisis

The US dollar index plunged 2.16% in premarket trading on Thursday, falling to its lowest level since October. The declines come in the wake of Trump’s decision to impose the tariffs, ranging from 10% to 50%, on a broad range of imports from dozens of countries. Heightening fears of a global trade war have reportedly spurred investors to seek safe-haven assets.

Kasman explained that though “we are not making immediate changes to our forecasts,” full implementation of announced policies could be seen as “a substantial macroeconomic shock.” 

“We thus emphasize that these policies, if sustained, would likely push the US and possibly global economy into recession this year,” he said.

Goldman Sachs has also revised its outlook, increasing the probability of a US recession in 2025 from 20% to 35%, citing new US policies.

Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank warned of a potential dollar crisis due to the coming tariffs.

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For those fools who say Musk is running the government, this proves otherwise. On the other hand, if you have a rocket scientist in the government, you had better use his advice. What has Navarro done to make the world a better place?

Elon Musk rips ‘moron’ Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro: ‘Dumber than a sack of bricks’

By 

Ryan King

Published April 8, 2025, 10:10 a.m. ET 

Billionaire Elon Musk escalated his attacks against White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday, calling him a “moron” who’s “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk, 53, responded Tuesday to the trade adviser’s suggestion on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday that the Tesla boss was “not a car manufacturer” but “a car assembler,” pointing to the electric vehicle company’s importing of batteries and other key components to manufacture its cars. 

“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk wrote on X, adding in a subsequent post: “Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

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Elon Musk escalated his flame war with Trump adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday.

@matteosalvinimi / X

“By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content.” Musk continued. “Navarro should ask the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara.”

In his screed against Navarro, Musk cited a Cars.com study of 338 cars in 2023 that concluded Tesla had four of the top five American-made cars. However, that study counted Canada as part of the US.

Over the weekend, Musk had first taken swipes against Navarro, 75, seemingly irked by President Trump’s onslaught of tariffs last week that Navarro played a pivotal role in crafting.

Musk had chided Saturday that Navarro’s Harvard education — he holds a master’s and Ph.D. from the Ivy League university — “is a bad thing, not a good thing,” prompting the trade adviser to accuse the world’s richest man of trying to protect his own interest.

“Elon, when he’s in his DOGE lane, is great, but we understand what’s going on here. Elon sells cars. He’s simply protecting his own interests,” Navarro told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

US stocks jump as trading partners rush to negotiate with Trump on tariffs

“There’s no rift here. Look, Elon, he’s got X, he’s got a big microphone. We don’t mind him saying whatever he wants. But, just, the American people need to understand that we understand what that’s all about, and it’s fine,” Navarro added.

Do you not think, Mr Navarro, that what is true of Tesla is also true of thousands of American industries? 

Last week, Trump, 78, announced the highest rate of tariffs on foreign countries in nearly a century, including a 10% baseline rate on virtually every country that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and higher, customized rates that will take effect after midnight Wednesday. 

Musk has refrained from criticizing Trump directly, but his dissatisfaction with the tariffs has been apparent. On Monday, he reposted a video of libertarian economist Milton Friedman’s famous discussion about the making of a pencil. 

3

Navarro suggested on CNBC Monday that Musk was “not a car manufacturer” but “a car assembler.”

Chris Kleponis/CNP / SplashNews.com

The South Africa-born tycoon also publicly expressed hope that the end result of Trump’s protectionist shift will be a zero-tariff understanding between the US and Europe. 

“At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said during a video chat with Italy’s right-leaning co-ruling League party over the weekend.

“If people wish to work in Europe or wish to work in North America, they should be allowed to do so in my view,” Musk told League leader Matteo Salvini, adding that this “has certainly been my advice to the president.”

Trump's sweeping tariffs explained

• A new 10% baseline rate and harsher “reciprocal” levies will impact dozens of countries, including key allies such as European Union members, Japan and Israel.
• Online Chinese retailers, such as Temu and Shein, are no longer exempt from tariffs, due to the closing of a trade loophole on de minimus goods. 
• A 25% tariff has been issued on foreign-made cars, which impacts roughly half of all vehicles sold in America.
• Following Trump’s “Liberation Day,” the Dow plunged more than 1,000 points over fears of an all-out trade war.

Last November, just before Trump’s electoral victory, Musk had publicly raised deep concerns about the use of tariffs to protect US industry. 

“I think you need to be careful with tariffs,” Musk told podcast titan Joe Rogan at the time. “I deal a lot with supply chain issues. Like, the global automotive supply chain for Tesla is incredibly complex. So when there are sudden changes in tariffs … it messes everything up.”

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Navarro played a pivotal role in crafting Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

REUTERS

“You want to have tariffs be predictable so that tariffs can adjust their supply chain,” he added. “I think companies are more than happy to increase manufacturing in America, it’s just that you can’t do it instantly.”

Exactly!

Musk has enjoyed profound influence in the second Trump administration, guiding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting crusade.

When asked about the growing feud between Musk and Navarro, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed it off. 

“Whatever. We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public,” she told a CNBC reporter. 

I just wish it didn't sound like a group of adolescent boys in a back alley.

As the stark market has nosedived amid the onslaught of tariffs, Musk’s personal net worth has also sunk nearly $50 billion over the past two weeks, according to data from Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.

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