Trump Threatens to Turn DOGE Against Former Chief Elon Musk

In brief

Trump accused Musk of relying on historic government subsidies and hinted at agency changes.
The feud comes despite their former alliance on DOGE, a federal efficiency agency the pair helped create.
It follows broader tensions over crypto, debt policy, and overlapping business interests.

President Donald Trump intensified his public rift with Elon Musk on Monday, suggesting that DOGE, the agency he once helped create, take a harder look at the billionaire’s companies.

In a Truth Social post, Trump questioned Musk’s prior leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency and accused him of benefiting from record-breaking government subsidies.

“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” President Trump said.

No formal action has been announced at the time of writing. Decrypt has approached the White House and Musk’s representatives for comment.

The post marks a sharp turn for a partnership that once symbolized Trump’s embrace of tech-sector disruption.

Launched in early 2025, DOGE was framed as a joint initiative between Trump and Musk to streamline bloated federal systems, with its name nodding to the meme crypto Dogecoin.

A broken union

In recent weeks, Musk has increasingly distanced himself from the administration, beginning with a public breakup and later issuing an apology.

That didn’t last for long, however, with Musk launching tirades on X against Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.

The legislation, which seeks to introduce sweeping tax cuts, immigration reform, and crypto-friendly provisions, has sparked criticism, including from Musk and leading economists, who say it could add over $3.3 trillion to the U.S.’s national debt.

“Hitting the debt ceiling is the only thing that will actually force the government to cut waste and fraud,” Musk posted past midnight on X, vaguely alluding to Trump’s Monday post. “That’s why the debt ceiling legislation exists.”

While Musk has long benefited from federal contracts, tax incentives, and energy programs, Trump’s recent criticism of that support drew backlash from sectors that consider Tesla and SpaceX strategically important to national interests.

The dispute also draws attention to Trump’s ongoing financial exposure to the crypto sector, where Musk’s Tesla and X also have significant, overlapping investments, both in the underlying technology and Tesla’s $1.2 billion Bitcoin holdings.

While in office, Trump has maintained ties to crypto-linked ventures, from a family-operated NFT platform to partnerships with crypto firms, including miner Hut 8 and DeFi platform World Liberty Financial.

Asked by Decrypt last week whether he’s willing to pull away from those ventures, Trump deflected the question, instead asserting that without his presidency, the crypto industry wouldn’t be where it is today.

“But I’m president, and what I did do there is build an industry that’s very important. And you know, if we didn’t have it, China would,” Trump said.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair