By Rebecca Ballhaus and Alex Leary

It had once been a relationship so strong that even a lawsuit couldn't drive a wedge through it.

When President Trump and Elon Musk did a joint interview with Sean Hannity soon after the inauguration, sitting so close their knees nearly touched and vigorously nodding at each other's responses, the Fox News host appeared baffled by the recent settlement of a suit Trump had brought against X, Musk's social-media platform.

"He's become one of your best friends. He's working for free for you," Hannity pointed out to Trump. "You just made him pay you $10 million?" Then he turned to Musk. "You don't care about that?"

"No, I love the president," Musk replied. Trump said his buddy had gotten a discount.

For months after Trump won re-election, he and the world's richest man seemed infatuated with one another. Musk rarely left his side, moving into Mar-a-Lago, flying on Air Force One and trotting his young son into the Oval Office. On New Year's Eve, the two men danced together, in tuxedos, to "YMCA."

"A star is born," Trump, 78, said of Musk, 53, the night he won the election, with the help of the billionaire's millions. Musk, just weeks into his job as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, professed he loved Trump "as much as a straight man can love another man."

The country was enthralled with -- or at least unable to escape -- Trump-Musk fever, an improbable union that generated as much attention as any of the dozens of executive orders the new president was firing off.

Seven months after the election, their bromance detonated in spectacular fashion. It was the breakup everyone saw coming -- yet the speed and viciousness with which it escalated still stunned White House aides, lawmakers and even Kanye West.

"Broooos please noooooo," the controversial rapper who now goes by Ye tweeted Thursday as the quarrel boomed. "We love you both so much." They went there anyway, like a couple firing off texts with things that felt good to say in the moment but that they knew they would later regret. Except that both men own social-media platforms and have digital armies that total more than 300 million followers.

Musk suggested Trump should be impeached, alleged he was named in a federal investigation into convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and took credit for Trump's election win. Trump threatened to revoke Musk's government contracts, said he had asked Musk to leave the administration because he was "wearing thin" and claimed he had gone "CRAZY!"

One congressional aide said his phone hadn't blown up this much since the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the U.S. Capitol. A White House staffer said it was like watching parents fight. Private message threads lighted up with urgent news flashes: the latest White House official Musk had unfollowed on X.

"He started it," a White House staffer said of Musk, referring to criticism of Trump's signature tax-and-spending bill. Seeking to refocus, the administration said it was putting energy into shoring up support for the legislation.

Thursday night brought some signs of a cool-off, including Musk pulling back a threat to decommission a spacecraft crucial to the International Space Station. Politico promoted news of a possible call. But Trump was having none of that Friday -- at least not yet. He told ABC News that Musk wanted to talk, but he was "not particularly" interested. To CNN, he said, "I'm not even thinking about Elon."

Some Trump allies -- and Musk detractors -- rushed to make sure the breakup would stick. Steve Bannon, no stranger to Trump's turbulent relationships, in an interview called for Trump to investigate Musk's companies, his drug use and his relationship with China.

Bannon said Trump's turn on Musk, which he has spent months calling for, had been a long time coming. Trump is "not that into you," he said, and Musk "just can't read the room." He added: "If we're going to deport 13 million illegal aliens, we've got to deport 13 million and one."

Even some foreign leaders reveled in the twist of fortune. Replying to a March post on X in which Musk had told him to "be quiet, small man," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote, "See, big man, politics is harder than you thought."

For a period, it had been a mutually beneficial relationship, in addition to the genuine affection the men appeared to have for each other. Musk had spent more than $300 million on the 2024 election, much of it to elect Trump. His penchant for attracting controversy often rivaled even Trump's, taking some heat off the president. Musk's proximity to the president allowed him to install allies across the government and play a key role influencing policies, including many that would affect his own companies.

But advisers who know both men believed it was doomed from the start -- or at least, from the moment Time magazine put Musk behind the Oval Office's Resolute Desk on its cover. Trump, aides know, doesn't like to share the spotlight. And Musk, the CEO of a half-dozen companies, is accustomed to running the show, often in highly eccentric ways.

"I lost a lot of bets this week," said longtime Republican consultant Scott Reed. "I thought Elon would at least make it until August."

A whirlwind affair

The saga unfolds against the political transformation of Musk and the resurgence of Trump, who left office in disgrace following the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by his supporters.

Musk, once a supporter of Democrats, felt jilted by Biden, whose White House didn't invite him to an electric-vehicle event in 2021. His views were aligning more with conservatives, and his style, too, was growing more like Trump's, especially after Musk bought Twitter, renaming it X.

Then in July 2024, a man tried to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa. Musk issued an endorsement that day on X, and the two quickly became inseparable. Trump was attracted to the status and intelligence of his rocket-building friend, while Musk was charmed by the spotlight and love from the MAGA flock. When Trump returned to Butler in October that year, Musk was called up on stage, memorably jumping in midair, his arms flailing.

"The true test of someone's character is how they behave under fire," Musk said. He wore black jeans, a black blazer and black "Make America Great Again" hat.

"As you can see," he said, "I'm not just MAGA -- I'm dark MAGA."

At Mar-a-Lago with Trump after the election, Musk's influence defied expectations. He sat in on cabinet interviews, weighed in on personnel decisions and met with foreign leaders alongside Trump. Musk had his own office, a closed room that was typically used as a bar.

Trump advisers waited expectantly for him to chafe at the constant churn of news stories referring to Musk as "co-president" and highlighting his influence. For months, Trump was uncharacteristically nonchalant -- though there were glimmers that he was taking note. Speaking to supporters in December about the notion that Musk would take over as president, Trump said, "I'm safe, you know why? He can't be. He wasn't born in this country."

"No, he's a great guy," he added.

As the Trump show relocated to Washington, Musk's displays of power -- and of adulation to Trump -- grew even more frequent. February was especially lively.

Musk showed up in the Oval Office wearing a cartoonishly large MAGA hat and the next day declared his love for Trump. A couple of weeks later he was greeted with rapturous applause at the Conservative Political Action Conference and strode on stage wearing a gold necklace, sunglasses and the black MAGA cap. Argentine President Javier Milei came out and handed Musk a chain saw.

"This is the chain saw for bureaucracy," Musk said.

You're losing me

It didn't take long for Musk's seemingly unfettered influence to rankle White House officials and cabinet members, who saw him as treading on their territory. At a March meeting, several cabinet secretaries aired grievances about the billionaire's slashing of personnel and programs at their agencies. Trump backed Musk's goals, but told chief of staff Susie Wiles he sympathized with their complaints. In another cabinet meeting later that month, Musk donned a hat that read, "Trump was right about everything."

During an April cabinet meeting, Trump and Musk's banter was on full display. "Elon, I love your double hat, by the way," Trump told the billionaire, who was wearing a "Gulf of America" cap on top of his usual MAGA hat. "He's the only one who can get away with that." Trump, focused always on appearances, also overlooked Musk's refusal to wear a suit.

In recent weeks, Trump had begun to privately express frustration with Musk, in particular his lofty promise to slash $1 trillion in government spending. He told aides he wasn't happy that Musk had missed the mark by so much. (DOGE says it has saved $175 billion so far.) "Was it all bullshit?" he wondered aloud.

Still, in a farewell ceremony at the White House just last week, Trump lavished praise on Musk and his work cutting costs, presenting him with a golden key to the building. There is "nobody like him," he said.

Musk, sporting a shirt that read "The Dogefather" and a black eye he said his son had given him, insisted DOGE would only grow stronger. "I liken it to a sort of Buddhism -- it's like a way of life," he said.

Some Trump allies thought the mood was off even then. Trump, Bannon commented late Thursday, never stood up from his desk and gave Musk the "side eye" as he handed him the key.

Days later, the rift burst into public view, as Musk took to X to attack the tax-and-spending bill Trump had endorsed. Trump held off responding at first. But in an Oval Office meeting Thursday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump aired his doubts about their future. "Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," he said, as Merz looked on.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

June 06, 2025 21:00 ET (01:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.