The Elon Musk - Donald Trump Nuclear War
And The 10x Lessons For Employees, Entrepreneurs & Investors
The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump that started last week has captivated observers in both politics and business.
What began as an unlikely alliance has devolved into public barbs and strategic fallout.
Musk, the tech billionaire and Tesla CEO, surprised many by backing Trump’s 2024 campaign and even joining his administration.
But a clash over electric vehicle (EV) policy has fractured their relationship, leading to a war of words.
Let’s look at the latest developments in the Musk-Trump feud, explore Musk’s possible motivations for initially backing Trump, and draw practical lessons for 10x employees, entrepreneurs and investors.
Musk’s Surprising Alliance with Trump
In the 2024 election cycle, Elon Musk emerged as one of Trump’s biggest backers.
He reportedly poured close to $300 million into helping elect Trump.
After Trump’s victory, Musk was appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is a controversial cost-cutting initiative tasked with slashing federal programs and red tape.
This alliance promised mutual benefits.
Musk gained a direct line to power (and, as some noted, a chance to secure government contracts for Tesla and SpaceX).
Trump gained the endorsement of a tech visionary and the sheen of innovation.
Win-win.
Until it’s not.
The Backlash
The public reaction to Musk standing beside Trump was swift.
By early 2025, and perhaps due to one of DOGE’s brutal cost-cutting activities when it fired thousands of government employees (and likely Musk’s brandishing of a chainsaw at a conservative conference in February and gloating about DOGE’s firings), Tesla’s stock price had plummeted over 40% from its January 2025 highs.
Tesla showrooms faced vandalism, and protests erupted against Musk.
Internally, however, Musk’s presence in the administration coincided with favourable outcomes for his businesses. Federal investigations into Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink were quietly halted as oversight offices were downsized.
Critics accused Musk and Trump of engaging in “corruption in plain sight,” suggesting Musk’s involvement was driven by self-interest as much as public service.
For a time, however, Musk and Trump appeared aligned and personally close.
Musk even jokingly referred to himself as Trump’s “first buddy,” and was seen wearing a hat emblazoned with “Trump Was Right About Everything” in a show of loyalty.
However, due top Tesla’s shocking sales performance this quarter which dropped 71% year-over-year, Musk decided to leave DOGE to focus on running his businesses.
Which he did, on May 29.
And a few days later — the fireworks started.
The EV Mandate Reversal
Trump’s signature legislative package, “The Big, Beautiful Bill”, not only aimed to deliver what Trump touted as the “biggest tax cuts in history”, but also carried riders that gutted federal support for electric vehicles.
The bill eliminated or scaled back EV tax credits (including a popular $7,500 consumer credit) and axed tailpipe emissions rules that had pushed automakers toward electrification.
In effect, Trump was rolling back the Biden-era “EV mandate”, which were policies that incentivised EV adoption and pressured automakers to produce more zero-emission cars.
He even ordered a halt to federal EV infrastructure projects, like charger installations and government EV fleet purchases.
Such measures struck at the heart of Musk’s flagship company, Tesla.
Musk’s publicly stated mission for Tesla is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”. He has long argued that “the world does need electric cars” for a viable future.
By contrast, Trump has consistently championed fossil fuels and even claimed that Biden’s EV push “would kill 40% of the auto industry’s jobs".
The stage was set for a confrontation of visions.
War of Words
As details of the bill emerged, Musk took to his social platform X (formerly Twitter) to blast the Republican proposal that put America “in the fast lane to debt slavery”.
He urged Congress to block the bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” for its fiscal recklessness.
Notably, Musk’s initial criticism targeted the bill’s spending and deficit impact rather than Trump personally.
But Trump responded personally and forcefully.
In an Oval Office press meeting on June 5, alongside Germany’s Chancellor, Trump said he was “very disappointed” at Musk’s opposition.
He revealed what he believed was the real reason for Musk’s dissent. He said:
“Elon’s upset because we took the EV mandate… which was a lot of money for electric vehicles.”
Trump was implying that Musk “went crazy” only after the bill scrapped EV incentives.
According to Trump, Musk had known all along that EV subsidies would be cut and “had no problem with it” until it became reality.
Trump even mused that Musk might simply “miss the place” (the Oval Office), suggesting Musk’s ego was bruised after exiting his advisory role.
He labeled Musk’s outcry as a case of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and jokingly said, “I don't know if we [will be friends] anymore”.
Musk swiftly fired back on X, denying Trump’s narrative.
He insisted the bill’s contents were “never shown to me even once” and that it was “passed in the dead of night” without proper scrutiny.
Musk declared that he could live with the EV/solar subsidy cuts – “keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill” – but urged lawmakers to “ditch the… DISGUSTING PORK” and notably pointed out the “very unfair” fact that oil and gas subsidies were untouched.
This exchange made it clear that Musk felt double-crossed or at least unappreciated.
He was apparently willing to swallow policies harmful to Tesla if applied even-handedly, but not if they came packaged in unrelated wasteful spending and favoritism for oil interests.
What had been a policy disagreement quickly turned personal.
Musk – who up to that point had refrained from attacking Trump directly – now let loose.
He reminded Trump (and the world) of the value of his support, posting:
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election… Such ingratitude.”
Trump, in turn, escalated on social media and national television.
In one interview, he dismissed Musk as “the man who lost his mind” since leaving the White House team.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies began publicly piling on Musk as well, painting him as a turncoat.
Musk retaliated with perhaps the most inflammatory volley with a claim hinting that Trump’s name appeared in Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced sex-trafficker, pedophile and financier.
By early last week, the Musk - Trump relationship had spectacularly imploded in public view.
The feud had immediate business fallout.
Tesla’s stock, already weakened, plunged 14% in a single day after Trump threatened to cancel federal contracts with Musk’s companies.
The broader EV sector shuddered as investors tried to gauge how far Trump’s anti-EV agenda might go.
Some feared Trump would make the environment even tougher for electric cars in retaliation, putting the nascent industry “on its last legs”.
Since this newsletter is about 10x employees, entrepreneurs and investors, what 10x lessons can we draw from this high-profile clash of egos, policy, and business interests?
Why Did Musk Back Trump?
Before turning to the 10x lessons, it’s important to understand why Musk aligned with Trump in the first place.
This is an alignment that now seems at odds with Musk’s core business. The following factors likely drove Musk’s decision.
1. Strategic Business Interests
As stated, Musk stood to gain materially from a friendly Trump administration.
Early in Trump’s term, regulators and inspectors general were dismissed or reassigned, resulting in at least 32 federal investigations into Musk’s companies being dropped or stalled.
These included probes into Tesla’s Autopilot safety and Neuralink’s animal testing protocols.
By joining the administration, Musk was effectively shielded from regulatory scrutiny. This is a huge relief for his companies’ risk profile.
Furthermore, Musk likely calculated that Trump’s policies could favour Tesla in some ways.
For example, Trump’s trade stance included maintaining steep tariffs on imported Chinese EVs (and even suggesting raising them to 100%), which protects Tesla from low-cost Chinese competitors in the U.S. market.
And while Trump was eliminating consumer EV credits as stated earlier, Musk has publicly argued that Tesla can thrive without subsidies.
In mid-2024, Musk even tweeted: “Take away the subsidies… It will only help Tesla. Also, remove subsidies from all industries!” – suggesting a belief that scrapping incentives would hurt legacy automakers (who rely on them more) while leaving Tesla comparatively stronger.
In short, Musk may have seen a Trump partnership as a net win.
Fewer investigations, favourable trade protection, and a level playing field without subsidies, gives an edge to Tesla as it already has a head start.
2. Political and Ideological Alignment
Musk’s own politics have evolved to align more with conservative themes in recent years.
He has railed against “woke” culture and high taxes, advocated for free speech absolutism on social media, and championed lean government.
Trump’s agenda of deregulation, bureaucracy-cutting, and business tax cuts resonated with Musk’s worldview.
Indeed, Musk enthusiastically led DOGE to downsize federal agencies, echoing his belief in trimming “waste” (and his enthusiasm, seen in public with him brandishing a chainsaw as mentioned earlier, likely triggered the thousands of federal employees DOGE fired under his leadership).
Both men shared a disdain for traditional media and enjoyed communicating via unfiltered social platforms (Trump on Truth Social, Musk on X).
These shared attitudes helped cement their alliance.
3. Personal Influence and Ego
There is an old saying:
Keep your friends close, and your regulators closer.
By becoming an insider, Musk had the ear of the most powerful person in government. That level of influence can be intoxicating.
Reports suggest Musk enjoyed regular access to Trump, dining at Mar-a-Lago and brainstorming policy in the Oval Office.
Trump publicly flattered Musk as a “great genius” on various occasions, no doubt appealing to Musk’s ego.
For a 10x figure like Musk, who is used to calling the shots at his companies, being treated as an equal in shaping the US’s future was likely a major draw.
It was, in essence, a chance to drive national strategy on space, infrastructure, and tech in ways that benefited his vision (and businesses).
Musk himself admitted that he had become extremely close to Trump. Hence his feeling of betrayal when Trump seemed ungrateful for that support.
4. Calculating (or Miscalculating) the Risk
Musk may have believed that any downsides of associating with Trump could be managed.
If the bet paid off, Tesla might suffer short-term PR hits but gain long-term advantages (market dominance without credits, government contracts, etc.).
However, this calculation proved imperfect.
The public backlash to Musk’s role was fiercer than expected, or perhaps was not even expected at all.
Not only did Tesla’s stock dive, but Tesla’s brand suffered among eco-conscious consumers who saw Musk as “selling out” to a fossil-fuel-friendly administration.
And by June, Musk found himself in a bind.
The Big Beautiful bill targeted Tesla’s bottom line directly, and Trump, whom he’d helped install, was not budging on his anti-EV stance.
Musk’s attempt to have it both ways – championing free-market principles and keeping generous EV incentives until Tesla was ready – fell apart under political reality.
As one analyst observed, Musk’s earlier bravado about dropping subsidies was “posturing”. In truth, “if the EV credits go away, that will impact Tesla tremendously… He wants those credits.”
In retrospect, Musk’s motivations were a mix of bold vision, self-interest, and perhaps overconfidence that he could steer the Trump train without derailing his own mission.
Ultimately, the Musk–Trump fallout highlights the old lesson that business alliances with political leaders come with unpredictable costs.
Musk’s real motivations – securing his businesses’ interests and advancing his ideals – were rational on paper.
But politics can be a fickle partner.
The very move that gave Musk short-term influence also tethered him to Trump’s volatile brand and agenda, which proved fundamentally at odds with Musk’s long-term goal of mainstreaming electric vehicles.
With that context, we can extract some practical, strategic, and behavioural insights from this saga.
Lessons for a 10x Employee
Even if you’re not a billionaire CEO, the Musk–Trump feud offers instructive takeaways for high-performing employees navigating their own careers and workplaces.
1. Align with Values, Not Just Personalities
Musk’s experience shows the danger of hitching your wagon to a powerful figure whose core values conflict with your mission.
As an employee, you might be courted by a superstar executive or a charismatic boss.
10x Lesson
Don’t let star power or loyalty blind you. Ensure your leader’s vision aligns with what you’re working to achieve.
Musk stood beside a boss who fundamentally favoured fossil fuels over EVs, a mismatch that eventually became untenable.
A 10x employee stays true to their core purpose (in Musk’s case, sustainable technology) even when pressured to submit to a higher-up’s contradictory agenda.
2. Speak Up When It Counts (Tactfully)
For a while, Musk bit his tongue publicly, avoiding criticism of Trump and focusing only on the bill.
But when a policy crossed his red line, he voiced dissent in dramatic fashion on a public platform.
As a top-performing employee, you may often have more insight into the “ground truth” of a project than your superiors.
10x Lesson
Cultivate the courage to raise concerns about decisions that could seriously harm the company’s mission or integrity.
However, do so with tact and evidence.
Musk’s belated pushback came off as combative and was dismissed by Trump as “going crazy.”
In a corporate setting, waiting too long or venting frustration publicly can backfire.
Instead, 10x employees should address critical issues early and through proper channels to avoid a showdown when stakes are highest.
3. Manage Your Personal Brand Carefully
One striking aspect of Musk’s saga is how his personal choices directly impacted his company’s perception.
By associating closely with a divisive figure, Musk alienated a segment of customers and talent.
This is evident from Tesla’s stock drop and even vandalism incidents by those angry at his political stance and DOGE’s firings.
10x Lesson
As a highly productive employee (especially if you’re a public-facing or leadership figure), remember that your reputation can affect your team or company.
Maintain professionalism and avoid unnecessary public entanglements that could reflect negatively on your work.
In practical terms, think twice before aligning yourself publicly with contentious office politics or external controversies.
Protect your credibility, so your contributions remain the focus.
4. Adapt and Learn
Finally, even 10x employees make mistakes. What sets them apart is rapid learning and adaptation.
Musk arguably misjudged the political winds and is now pivoting (for instance, stressing fiscal responsibility) to justify his stance.
10x Lesson
When a strategy you advocated goes awry, own the outcome and recalibrate quickly.
Rather than doubling down out of pride, extract the lesson and adjust course.
Musk’s predicament teaches employees to stay flexible.
Today’s advantageous alliance can become tomorrow’s liability, so always have a plan B and an independent professional identity to fall back on.
Lessons for a 10x Entrepreneur
For entrepreneurs – especially those aiming to build high-leverage ventures – the Musk-Trump feud is a case study in strategic alignment, risk management, and staying true to your vision.
1. Beware of Strategic Misalignment
An entrepreneur’s cardinal rule is to never compromise the long-term mission for short-term favours.
Musk teaming with Trump brought regulatory relief and influence, but it also undermined Tesla’s green ethos.
The Big Beautiful Bill was poised to “decimate Tesla” by eroding the incentives and rules that helped create EV demand.
10x Lesson
If a partnership or investment opportunity asks you to undermine your startup’s core value proposition, think twice.
A 10x entrepreneur knows that an alliance which “directly undermines” your product’s future is likely a poisoned chalice.
Pursue collaborations where both parties benefit while moving in the same direction.
When visions diverge (as Trump’s nostalgia for gas cars diverged from Musk’s EV revolution), the alliance will eventually crack.
2. Understand Policy and Regulatory Risk
Musk’s situation underscores how government policies can make or break emerging industries.
As an entrepreneur, you must anticipate how changes in law or leadership will impact your venture.
Musk appeared to celebrate the removal of EV credits at first (calling the GOP bill’s EV cuts “fine” if waste was removed), perhaps believing Tesla was robust enough.
But the market reaction and analyst commentary showed that losing credits was a “big deal” for Tesla’s near-term sales.
10x Lesson
A 10x entrepreneur stays informed on relevant policy trends and has a plan for regulatory shifts.
Do scenario planning. If subsidies vanish, can your business model stand? If a key regulation changes, what’s your pivot?
Don’t assume the playing field will remain as-is. Build adaptability into your strategy.
3. Reputation Is (Almost) Everything
Tesla’s 71% drop in year-over-year profits was attributed partly to backlash against Musk’s political ties.
Customers and employees of startups often buy into the founder’s ethos as much as the product.
Musk’s public foray into partisan politics tarnished his brand’s innovative, future-forward image in the eyes of some.
10x Lesson
Entrepreneurs should guard their and their company’s reputation zealously.
This doesn’t mean shying away from taking stands. Musk himself has built his brand on bold moves.
But choose your battles wisely.
Ensure that your public actions reinforce your company’s values.
When considering high-profile partnerships (with politicians, big corporations, etc.), ask: “Will this association increase trust in our mission, or sow doubt?”
In Musk’s case, many Tesla customers felt doubt, which translated to lost sales and goodwill.
4. Plan for Leadership Volatility
As a founder, you often must partner with larger-than-life figures who are big investors, corporate giants, or government leaders.
Trump’s history of falling out with former allies is well-documented, and Musk is famously a mercurial leader himself.
When two volatile personalities allied, volatility squared.
10x Lesson
A 10x entrepreneur prepares for best-case and worst-case outcomes in partnerships. Hope for stability but plan for fallout.
For example, maintain diversification in funding and contracts so that no single patron (no matter how influential) can sink your venture with a change of heart.
Musk’s SpaceX is a major government contractor. Trump’s threat to “terminate Musk’s federal contracts” was a gut check.
Entrepreneurs should ask:
If my key partner or client pulls out tomorrow, what is my backup plan?
In short, leverage opportunities but never become solely dependent on them.
5. Keep the Long-Term Vision Front and Center
Musk and Trump ultimately diverged because their visions for the future differed profoundly. One looking backward to coal and gasoline, the other forward to Mars and electric transport.
A 10x entrepreneur maintains clarity of their long-term vision and uses it as a compass for decision-making.
Musk’s initial compromise of aligning with an administration antithetical to EVs was a bet that he could achieve some short-term wins without derailing the long-term EV mission.
In the end, the discord proved that you can’t serve two visions.
10x Lesson
Ensure every major strategic move ultimately feeds your venture’s endgame.
If you’re a climate-tech founder, for instance, be cautious about deals that might slow the clean-energy transition, even if they offer a short-term boost.
Stay laser-focused on why you started the company, and let that guide which allies you embrace and which concessions you refuse to make.
Lessons for a 10x Investor
Investors, especially those managing large portfolios or seeking outsized returns (the “10x” investors), can learn crucial lessons about risk, leadership, and strategy from the Musk-Trump feud.
1. Political Risk and Macro Strategy
The saga is a textbook example of policy risk impacting investments.
A single bill from a new administration threatened to reshape an entire sector’s economics, and the feud shaved billions off Tesla’s market cap in days.
10x Lesson
10x investors rigorously assess how government actions (elections, regulations, subsidies) could affect their holdings.
In 2025, Trump’s rollback of EV incentives and emission rules altered growth trajectories for EV makers.
A savvy investor would have anticipated that possibility once Trump was elected and perhaps hedged or rebalanced accordingly.
This doesn’t mean avoiding innovative companies like Tesla, but it does mean understanding that government is a key stakeholder.
Evaluate your portfolio in light of regulatory dependencies. If a company’s business model relies heavily on a favourable policy (tax credits, mandates, trade protections), assign a risk premium to it.
In Tesla’s case, even though Musk argued ending credits might benefit Tesla long-term, the short-term shock was significant.
10x investors combine belief in a company’s vision with realistic expectations about external risks.
2. Leadership Matters (for Better or Worse)
Both Trump and Musk are larger-than-life figures whose words can move markets.
For investors, this underlines the importance of evaluating leadership behaviour as part of due diligence.
Musk’s tweets and political manoeuvres became a source of volatility. Tesla’s 14% single-day plunge came after Musk and Trump’s spat went nuclear.
10x Lesson
When investing in founder-led companies, you are often investing in the individual as much as the enterprise.
A 10x investor asks:
Does this leader have the temperament and focus to execute the strategy without undue distraction? How might their personality create unforeseen risks?
In Musk’s case, his foray into politics introduced a new dimension of risk that was not purely market-driven.
Top investors will weigh a leader’s unpredictability or propensity for controversy into the valuation (either demanding a discount for it or steering clear if it undermines the thesis).
On the flip side, the drama also reminded investors that charismatic leaders can recover if they learn from missteps. Keeping an eye on whether Musk can course-correct and rebuild confidence is crucial.
3. Market Sentiment vs. Fundamentals
The Musk-Trump feud sparked emotion-driven market swings – fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Long-term investors should separate signal from noise.
Is Tesla fundamentally less valuable, or is this a temporary overreaction?
For example, Trump threatening Musk’s SpaceX contracts is serious, but would the government really sabotage its key space partner?
One congressman noted it’d be “ridiculous” to cut off SpaceX given its importance.
10x Lesson
10x investors maintain composure when headlines hit. They look at the core business. Tesla still sells the majority of EVs in America and has technology and scale advantages.
However, they also recognise when sentiment itself can become a self-fulfilling drag (e.g. if public perception turns negative enough to hurt sales).
Thus, a great investor balances confidence in their long-term thesis with attentiveness to new information. If the feud shows a permanent policy shift slowing EV adoption, that’s fundamental.
But if it’s mainly a clash of egos that will blow over, it could be a buying opportunity.
Understanding which it is requires deep sector knowledge and independent analysis.
4. Diversification and Optionality
Lastly, this conflict illustrates why diversification – of both investments and business strategy – is key for resilience.
Investors heavily concentrated in Tesla or the EV sector felt acute pain from this one political episode.
A 10x investor, while perhaps concentrated in conviction bets, still ensures they’re not overly exposed to singular risks.
Moreover, they favour companies with options.
SpaceX, for instance, provides Musk diversification beyond Tesla.
Interestingly, that may have given him too much confidence to antagonise a President who can influence SpaceX’s contracts.
10x Lesson
Invest in companies that have multiple ways to win and aren’t entirely at the mercy of one product, policy, or person.
And as an investor, diversify enough so that no one feud, however dramatic, derails your broader financial goals.
The Elon Musk vs. Donald Trump feud of 2025 is more than a headline-grabbing disagreement between 2 formally “best buddies”.
It’s a vivid demonstration of how visionary goals can collide with political reality, and how even the savviest individuals must navigate trade-offs between principle and pragmatism.
Musk’s backing of Trump, and the subsequent fallout, reminds us that integrity of mission is crucial – whether you’re an employee choosing where to work, an entrepreneur selecting partners, or an investor picking stocks.
While the drama is still unfolding, one thing is clear.
Staying true to long-term values, anticipating external risks, and adapting quickly are the hallmarks of “10x” success in any field.
By learning from the missteps and manoeuvres of Musk and Trump, we equip ourselves to make smarter decisions in our own high-stakes endeavours.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this issue.
Cheers!
P.S. Want more strategies to 10x your earnings as an employee, entrepreneur or investor? Go to SenZe.com now.
NOTE:
The 10x Factors for investors’s content is educational in nature, with examples used to illustrate the learning points. We are not financial advisors and do not provide financial advice. Please speak to your financial advisor before making any investment decision. Note that every investment comes with its own risks and drawbacks. Past results cannot guarantee future returns. Do not invest with money you cannot afford to lose.
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