Friday Briefing

President Trump in the Oval Office yesterday.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

The bromance fades: Trump and Musk traded insults

Tensions rose between President Trump and Elon Musk yesterday, days after Musk called Trump’s domestic policy bill a “disgusting abomination.” Their alliance has now dissolved into open acrimony — and the trading of memes.

During an Oval Office meeting with Germany’s chancellor, Trump took a swipe at Musk, who until last week was a presidential adviser. “I’m very disappointed in Elon,” Trump said. “I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

Musk responded in real time, accusing Trump on X of “ingratitude” and saying, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election.” By the afternoon, Musk had floated the idea of leaving the Republican Party to start a new entity and Trump had suggested that canceling Musk’s government contracts would save billions of dollars.

The public break comes after a remarkable partnership between the two men. Since the election, Musk has largely appeared inseparable from the president, helping to shape the federal government, make policy decisions and meet with other world leaders as the “first buddy.” Here’s how the relationship unraveled.

Analysis: “When exactly President Trump and Elon Musk would break up has been a parlor game for months,” my colleague Theodore Schleifer said. “Some of Musk’s associates believed this buddy routine would not last forever. But even so, the breakdown that we saw today was swifter than any of them imagined.”

Response: The share price of Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, plummeted nearly 15 percent.

More Trump news:

• At his meeting with Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, Trump compared Russia and Ukraine to two fighting children.

• The U.S. and China agreed to resume trade talks after Trump spoke on the phone yesterday with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader.