The relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump turned sour almost as quickly as it formed during the election trail last year, and the president has revealed the 'strange' moment where things appeared to fall apart.
While they were once seen as 'inseparable' by those close to the pair, Elon Musk and Donald Trump's relationship quickly began to fracture in the weeks and days leading up to the former's departure from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Cryptic social media posts did appear to quell rumors that the duo had split on bad terms, but that was quickly quashed when both took to X and Truth Social to fling brutal accusations at each other.
Musk appeared to throw the first punch with criticism of a new economic bill, adding to the flames by claiming he was the reason the president was elected and alleging that Trump is in the Epstein files - although he has since retracted this statement and expressed regret for his outburst.
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President Trump had ammunition of his own though, as he claimed that the tech mogul has 'Trump derangement syndrome' and threatened to rip up all of his government-issued contracts which could have significant ramifications for NASA.
That last threat holds what Trump himself has admitted to be the likely catalyst for their fractured relationship though, as he has revealed the 'strange' moment that things began to fall apart, as reported by the Metro.
Speaking of the Biden-issued 'Green New Deal' which would push the country towards an all-electric-vehicle target in the future, Trump revealed:
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"We abolished it, which is basically that everybody will be driving an electric car within a very short period of time. Now we know why Elon doesn't like me so much, which he does, actually. He does."
The president also added that he was 'amazed' that Elon endorsed him in the first place due to his clear stance on the EV mandate, as large parts of Musk's fortune and power come from his position as Tesla's CEO.
"I actually asked him, because it was like really strange that I'm with him, a friend of mine, and he makes electric cars and we're saying... you're not going to be forced to make all of those cars. He said, 'As long as I'm on the same plane as everybody else, we're going to do good, we make a better product', I said, 'That's very cool'."
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He reveals that things got 'a little bit strange' after that conversation, and tension appeared to emerge between the pair.
The future of EV credits - which Tesla continues to benefit significantly from as a leading electric car manufacturer - remains in the hands of the US Senate if it decides to pass what Trump has called the 'big beautiful bill'.
Regardless of whether this does pass though, the fallout of Musk's public outcry against Trump leave little chance of a reformed relationship between the pair - although Trump might still keep the Tesla he was gifted by Elon earlier this year.