Trump Takes Aim at Musk Over Subsidies and DOGE Legacy
Things between Donald Trump and Elon Musk just got a lot messier. On Monday, the former president fired off a Truth Social post suggesting that DOGE—the Department of Government Efficiency they launched together back in 2025—should take a closer look at Musk’s businesses.
Trump didn’t hold back. He accused Musk of leaning too hard on government subsidies, claiming that without them, the billionaire might’ve had to “close up shop and head back home to South Africa.” Strong words, especially considering how tight the two used to be.
Right now, there’s no official move from DOGE or the White House. We’ve reached out for comment, but so far, nothing’s come back.
A Partnership That Fell Apart
It’s a weird twist for what was once a pretty symbolic alliance. When DOGE first launched, it was framed as this bold effort to cut through government red tape—with a name that cheekily nodded to Dogecoin, the meme cryptocurrency Musk loves. At the time, it seemed like a perfect match: Trump’s appetite for disruption and Musk’s reputation for shaking things up.
But lately? Not so much. Musk has been stepping back from the administration for weeks, even publicly apologizing at one point. That didn’t last long, though. Soon after, he was back on X, tearing into Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a sweeping piece of legislation that mixes tax cuts, immigration changes, and crypto-friendly rules.
Critics, including Musk and a handful of economists, say the bill could push the national debt up by trillions. “Hitting the debt ceiling is the only thing that will actually force the government to cut waste and fraud,” Musk posted late one night, almost like he was responding to Trump’s jab before it even happened.
Subsidies, Crypto, and Overlapping Interests
The whole thing’s awkward because Musk’s companies—Tesla, SpaceX—have gotten plenty of help from the government over the years. Tax breaks, contracts, energy incentives. Trump knows that, of course, but now he’s calling it out, which hasn’t gone over well in some circles.
Then there’s the crypto angle. Both Trump and Musk have skin in the game here. Tesla’s sitting on $1.2 billion in Bitcoin, and X has its own crypto ties. Trump, meanwhile, has kept one foot in the industry since leaving office, from NFTs to partnerships with crypto miners and DeFi platforms.
When asked last week if he’d step back from those ventures, Trump dodged the question. Instead, he took credit for the crypto boom, saying, “If we didn’t have it, China would.”
So where does this leave DOGE? Hard to say. What started as a joint project to “streamline” things now looks like just another feud in a long line of them. And with both men dug in, it’s not clear who blinks first.
