Grab the popcorn because the girls are fighting again. While many of us sat back and waited for Russia or China to trigger World War III, little did we know that an altogether more explosive clash of the titans was about to detonate in our front rooms. Donald Trump and Elon Musk have officially gone to war on an epic scale.
Some thought it would only be a matter of time until the President of the United States and the world's richest man would have a falling out, and while the cracks started to show when Elon Musk began criticizing the POTUS' big, beautiful bill, few could've predicted it would quite go down like this. There are sure to be plenty caught in the crossfire, but already, Tesla has taken a major hit.
Musk took to X to make some scandalous claims about President Donald Trump, sharing a post that seems destined to go down in history as one of the platform's most-viewed. The coveted Epstein Files have been a hot topic of conversation since Attorney General Pamela Bondi released the first wave in February 2025, and while Donald Trump wasn't named, Musk claims his name can be found within the archives.
Posting on X, the tech mogul spectacularly claimed: "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.
Advert
"Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."
The spiral continued, with Musk threatening to pull SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft (seemingly marooning astronauts on the International Space Station), and also calling for President Trump's impeachment.
Trump threatened to cut off government contracts to Musk's companies, leading to the latter delivering a Hollywood-esque, "Go ahead, make my day." While the long-term fallout of these posts remains to be seen, it's already hit Tesla hard in the pocket as it lost around $150 billion in value and closed 14.3% down for the day.
Advert
Speaking to CBS MoneyWatch, Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives warned how the dispute is "sending shivers down the backs of Tesla investors."
He continued: "This has gone from a candlelight dinner bromance to a knife fight. Neither Musk nor Trump are one to back off."
In a note to investors, Ives concluded: "The quickly deteriorating friendship and now 'major beef' between Musk and Trump is jaw-dropping and a shock to the market, and putting major fear for Tesla investors on what is ahead."
Musk's electric vehicle baby had already been struggling since he stepped up as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, with the billionaire recently having to face a tough earnings call where he addressed a 70% slump in profits. He said he was stepping back from politics to focus on his ventures like Tesla and SpaceX, but as this war of the words rages on, there are concerns that there won't be any of Tesla left to invest in.