By Ricardo Lezama 
In an explosive tweet storm that has captured headlines and also driven market loss for Tesla, Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump exchanged barbs over Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” spending package—dubbed by Musk as a “disgusting abomination” for its huge deficits and perceived bias against clean energy subsidies. At the time of this writing, it is estimated that Elon Musk has lost well over $38 billion thanks to market movements that reflect fear over Donald Trump’s ire towards Tesla.
The confrontation began when Musk publicly criticized the bill on X, calling it fiscally irresponsible and lopsided toward oil and gas, and accusing the Trump administration of lacking transparency. In response, Trump threatened to yank lucrative government contracts from Musk’s companies, including SpaceX and Starlink, escalating what had been a cordial relationship into a full-blow feud.
Amid this policy spat, Musk dropped what many see as his most incendiary claim yet—“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”
By implicating Trump in Jeffrey Epstein’s investigative records—records long rumored to list powerful figures—Musk suggested that the administration’s reluctance to release those documents stems from protecting Trump’s name. This allegation intensified the online drama: Trump retaliated by hinting at punitive measures against Musk’s enterprises, framing it as retribution for Musk’s unflinching criticism of federal spending and now this explosive sex scandal claim. Most people are unsympathetic to either individual.