‘Big beautiful bill’ leads to Trump-Musk bromance breakup
Happy Monday! It’s Danielle Battaglia with today’s Under the Dome.
I can’t fully express to you what Thursday was like inside the halls of Congress. Everyone was watching the feud between President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk publicly play out on social media.
Trump fired off missives posted to his social media company, Truth Social. Musk wrote his attacks on X, the social media company he owns.
And each post was more outrageous than the last with threats to cut federal contracts to Musk’s companies, decommission a spaceship owned by Musk that aids the International Space Station, and accusing the president of being part of the Jeffrey Epstein files, documents collected by the FBI during its investigation of Epstein for sex offenses.
Even Rep. Greg Murphy, a Republican from Greenville, got involved in posting about the bickering.
“Enough Elon,” Murphy wrote.” Put the phone down and go outside and play.”
So how did this all start?
Musk quit the administration as his businesses began to falter due to his actions while working for Trump, when he looked for ways to cut wasteful spending in the government through the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency.
At first, it seemed like the well-documented bromance between Musk and Trump would survive. But then Wednesday rolled around.
Musk took issue with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. If you’ve been following this newsletter the past few weeks, you know that this is a more than 1,000-page piece of legislation that sets out to accomplish the campaign promises Trump made to Americans.
Musk called it “a disgusting abomination.”
The attacks continued from Musk Thursday.
Midday, Trump told reporters he wasn’t sure that he and Musk’s “great relationship” would continue. He added that Musk knew “the inner workings” of the bill better than anyone.
Musk denied that.
Then he escalated things.
Musk said Trump wouldn’t be president if it weren’t for him. He said Democrats would have the majority.
He posted incessantly and directed comments to members of Congress.
Trump threatened to cut government contracts and subsidiaries to Musk’s companies. He says Musk was “wearing thin,” and that he asked Musk to leave.
Then the Epstein accusation came with Musk finishing his post: “Have a nice day DJT.” He later posted a video of Trump at an Epstein party.
That was followed by this threat to decommission SpaceX Dragon, a spaceship that can take astronauts to and from the International Space Station. He later walked that back.
He called for Trump’s impeachment.
The back-and-forth posts on social media happened rapidly on Thursday and reporters throughout the press gallery read off the latest message as they came in, pulling focus from any other news happening. Members of Congress tried to escape answering questions about the fracas.
By Friday, Tesla’s stock was down and Trump told reporters he wasn’t calling Musk.
The breakup of Trump and Musk, two big personalities, was predicted almost as soon as their friendship began. But the way it went down couldn’t have been foretold.
And now it’s everyone’s guessing game of how this might impact what Congress does moving forward with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
I’ll keep you posted.
Other stories from last week:
- Trump plans to visit Fort Bragg on Tuesday.
- The General Assembly honored the state’s first female U.S. senator, Elizabeth Dole, Wednesday and named a section of U.S. 85 after her. The dedication was Friday. Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan has more.
- Expect ‘No Kings’ protests around North Carolina on Saturday. Renee Umsted tells you what is being protested and where the protests will be held.
- Threats of federal funding cuts have led Duke University officials to offer buyouts ahead of layoffs this summer. Brian Gordon explains how the school got to this point.
- This comes at the same time the Trump administration announced it was ending a prominent HIV vaccine development program at Duke, Gordon writes.
- The dean of students for UNC Asheville lost her job this week after she was recorded saying the school was not in compliance with diversity, equity and inclusion restrictions, Korie Dean reports.
- A new COVID variant is spreading. What does that mean for your summer? Evan Moore explains.
- A March 14 executive order signed by Trump could cut funding to some North Carolina libraries. Umsted has more.
That’s it for now. Please be kind to each other. And check back tomorrow for the Under the Dome podcast newsletter.
As always, feel free to reach out at dbattaglia@mcclatchydc.com.
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