Musk and Trump, ostensibly political allies over cuts to federal spending, publicly clashed on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters. The origin of the dispute is the impact Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill has on U.S. public debt.

Musk departed from the Trump administration last week after leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash federal spending. Musk ignited the feud with Trump on Tuesday by denouncing his “big, beautiful bill” as a “disgusting abomination,” calling it a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled” bill on social media platform X.