Well, that was over before it began.
It appears the burnt bridge between President Donald Trump and former Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk won’t be getting built back up anytime soon.
And that’s coming straight from the president’s mouth, according to ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl.
Appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Friday, show host George Stephanopoulos naturally asked Karl — a man who apparently has a direct line to Trump — about this rapidly intensifying feud.
“You called the president on his cell phone at 6:45, and he picked up,” Stephanopoulos said, setting the stage for Karl.
“Yeah, he picked up,” Karl confirmed. “Look, there’s been reporting out there that the White House is working to put together a call between Elon Musk and Donald Trump to broker some kind of peace.
“I asked Donald Trump about that. He said he’s not particularly interested in talking to Elon Musk. He said Elon wants to talk to him; he’s not ready to talk to Musk, who he called, ‘a man who has lost his mind.”
Additionally, as ABC News reported, Trump is so miffed, he’s even considering giving away or selling the red Tesla he was gifted by Musk.
Given that type of friendship, Karl and Stephanopoulos then spent some time discussing the power dynamic between Musk and Trump.
Stephanopoulos noted that the two both have leverage on each other, before Karl ultimately cut that thought down by describing the power dynamic as “asymmetric” in favor of the president.
“I mean Donald Trump, to use his phrase, really holds the cards here,” Karl explained. “Donald Trump could do severe damage to Elon Musk if he were to go vindictive.”
Karl then added that Trump has been “remarkably restrained,” but could easily turn his ire to any number of Musk focused initiatives, given the numerous projects and government contracts the tech mogul is tied to.
“Elon Musk is very powerful,” Karl said. “He’s also a very big target.”
And that target was painted on his back in the span of less than a week, despite the seemingly friendly way that his DOGE tenure ended, due to Musk’s very open grievances about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a Congressional spending bill strongly backed by Trump and a number of Republican lawmakers.
The beginning of the end appeared to happen Tuesday, when Musk took to X to lambaste the “Big Beautiful Bill” as “pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination.”
I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2025
From there, Musk would only escalate his attacks on the bill, before Trump finally jabbed back a bit on Thursday during a White House meeting with the German chancellor.
That response appeared to incense Musk, who, among other things, accused Trump of being in the Jeffrey Epstein files and also called for his impeachment.
Trump doesn’t appear to have forgotten nor forgiven those outbursts.
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