Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, the man the Tesla boss claims he got elected, fell out in spectacular – and very public – style on Thursday.
A break-up of the billionaire bromance appeared to be on the cards since Tuesday, after Mr Musk said the Republican President's signature “big, beautiful” tax bill was a “disgusting abomination” that would blow up the national debt.
Mr Trump hit back on Thursday, saying in the Oval Office that he was “disappointed” in Mr Musk, who as recently as February said he loves the President “as much as a straight man can love another man".
Mr Musk had donated about $300 million to Mr Trump and other Republicans in the run-up to the November election.
Mr Trump claims that the SpaceX and Tesla chief executive was embittered by the tax bill because it eliminates an electric vehicle subsidy that Republicans saw as unfairly propping up the EV industry at the expense of petrol-powered cars.
He posted a message on Truth Social saying Mr Musk had gone “crazy” and that he had been wearing out his welcome at the White House before his departure last week. Mr Musk left Washington after an unusual Oval Office appearance in which he sported a black eye and responded to a question about his alleged drug use.
The world's richest man responded in brutal fashion in a series of posts on X, saying Mr Trump had lied, claiming he did not even support EV tax subsidies, and saying the President would have lost the election were it not for his financial backing.
In the Oval Office, Mr Trump also suggested that Mr Musk was upset with him because he had withdrawn the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire friend of Mr Musk, to lead Nasa, because he is a Democrat.
Mr Musk posted messages about what he regards as America's unsustainable debt, claiming the world's richest nation is headed towards bankruptcy.
But perhaps the most damaging post from Mr Musk was one in which he claimed Mr Trump is named in the Epstein files, and that is why he had not released them.
The files, which have not been fully made public, concern the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and have long been the subject of speculation by Trump supporters who have demanded their full release.
Inclusion in the files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing by any of those named.
Mr Musk then went on to post a poll asking if it is time to create a new political party that represents the majority of Americans.
Shares in Mr Musk's Tesla dropped by as much as 15 per cent as the spat played out.
Mr Trump raised the prospect of further financial damage to Mr Musk by saying he could save America billions of dollars by ending government contracts to his companies.
Mr Musk responded by saying SpaceX would immediately start to decommission its Dragon spacecraft.
Nasa relies on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station under a contract worth about $4.9 billion, Reuters reported. The capsule is the only US spacecraft capable of flying humans in orbit.
