Highlights from June 5, 2025
- President Donald Trump said he is “very disappointed” in Elon Musk for his criticisms of the Republican policy bill, which includes many of the administration’s priorities. He suggested Musk was upset that the bill removed a Biden-era electric vehicle tax break that benefited his company Tesla.
- In a tirade of over two dozen social media posts, Musk fired back and claimed that Trump “would have lost the election” without his help. Then, in a dramatic escalation of the conflict, Trump implied he could sever U.S. government ties with Musk’s business, which amounts to billions in contracts and subsidies.
- Earlier in the day, Trump said he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping this morning in a nearly 1½-hour call that focused on trade. Tensions between the two superpowers escalated after each side accused the other of violating a trade truce.
‘Lost your damn mind’: Lawmakers weigh in on the Trump-Musk spat
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers weighed in on the conflict between Trump and Musk today as the pair continued to pour fuel on a fire that risks destroying a once tight-knit relationship between the two leaders for good.
Musk escalated the war of words throughout the day with online posts that ranged from intense criticism of a Republican funding bill that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would add trillions to the national deficit to a conspiracy-boosting claim that Trump is “in the Epstein Files” and a suggestion that Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance.
For some Republicans, Musk today took things too far.
‘Lost your damn mind’: Lawmakers weigh in on the Trump-Musk spat, continued
“You’ve lost your damn mind” was the message Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, had tonight for Musk, whom he has long praised.
“I’ve had a lot of love and respect for you for what you’ve done for this country over the last several months, but you’ve lost your damn mind,” Nehls said. “Enough is enough.”
Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., who has also clashed with Trump over his criticism of the funding bill, offered a subtle defense of Musk, who he said has “math” on his side.
“I choose math,” Massie said. “The math always wins over the words. I trust the math from the guy that lands rockets backwards over the politicians.”
But most Republican lawmakers today have taken the path of Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., opting against criticizing Trump or Musk amid the brewing rivalry.
“I don’t care how much fighting they do. I admire both of them,” Norman said.
Democrats, meanwhile, have delighted in the “bad blood” between the polarizing leaders, some likening the drama to an episode of “Real Housewives” or a WWE match and others suggesting the breakdown was inevitable.
“You’ve got two gentlemen with gargantuan egos and both appearing to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder, and they basically converged around a common platform of plunder and pillage of the American people, and now both of them are telling the truth about the other,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
Trump aims to build a MAGA judiciary, breaking with traditional conservatives
Trump is signaling a new approach to selecting judges in his second term, departing from his first-term formula of younger up-and-comers, elite credentials and pedigrees in traditional conservative ideology and instead leaning toward unapologetically combative, MAGA-friendly nominees.
The president turned heads last week by launching a searing attack on Leonard Leo and the conservative legal network known as the Federalist Society, which played a major role in selecting and steering 234 Trump-nominated judges, including three Supreme Court justices, through Senate confirmation during his first term.
‘This breakup is messy’: Democratic lawmaker compares Trump-Musk spat to the ‘Real Housewives’
Washington has gone 15 years without its own “Real Housewives” franchise. But according to Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., the ongoing drama between Trump and Musk is worthy of a franchise revival.
Standing before a poster labeled “the Real Housewives of Pennsylvania Ave,” Stansbury “shared the tea” in a floor speech in which she quoted directly from the apparent frenemies as she detailed a breakup she called “messy as all hell.”
“I mean, if you’ve watched over the last several days, it’s really been an epic breakup for the ages. In fact, I think it’s fit for the ‘Real Housewives,’” she said. “Just a couple of hours ago, Elon Musk affirmed a statement about actually impeaching the president. I mean, who would have thought that we’d end up here? Because, literally, less than a week ago, they were having a bromance in the Oval Office.”
‘This breakup is messy’: Democratic lawmaker compares Trump-Musk spat to the ‘Real Housewives’ , continued
Practically, Stansbury aimed to enter some of the posts from Trump and Musk’s contentious back-and-forth into the Congressional Record. But visually, she appeared to relish in the public spat as she jovially ticked through the dispute, seizing on Musk’s intense opposition to a funding package Trump has dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“He said: ‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,’” Stansbury said, quoting a post on X by Musk. “Let’s be clear, all 215 Democrats have been saying this for weeks, but obviously things really boiled over for Mr. Musk on Tuesday.”
Stansbury, the ranking member on the House DOGE subcommittee, welcomed Musk’s call to “kill the bill” and highlighted in particular his criticism of Republican lawmakers, who he suggested are betraying the country by supporting the funding package.
“Elon Musk says ‘in November of next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.’ I mean, you guys, we cannot make this up. This is like the real tea that is going on on the internet,” she said.
