Good morning. “I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man,” Elon Musk posted on X in February. He had numerous sleepovers at the White House, where he ate a late-night tub of caramel Häagen-Dazs at Trump’s suggestion. But relationships are hard, and all the harder when the protagonists are billionaire narcissists whose exes tend to be asked to sign NDAs.
Earlier this week, Musk posted an astonishing broadside against his former boss’s flagship piece of tax and spending legislation, calling it a “disgusting abomination”. And, you know, passion makes us say things we regret sometimes! Maybe they could patch things up, you might have thought.
Then yesterday Trump said he was “very disappointed in Elon”, threatened to cut Musk’s companies’ government contracts, said he’d fired him, mocked him for refusing makeup when he was in the Oval Office with a black eye, and called him “CRAZY”. And Musk accused Trump of lying, said he should be impeached, mused on creating a new political party, suggested he would decommission the SpaceX craft that brings astronauts back from the International Space Station, and, er, alleged his former boss was in the Epstein files.
Even Kanye West, a true Don and Elon stan, suggested the whole thing was a bit much. Do you remember the fight between Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story? It’s like that, except with Steve Bannon chipping in to suggest that one of them should be deported, and with the forlorn child played by Tesla’s plummeting share price.
Anyway. Musk has claimed that the basis of this grotesque political divorce is his ideological commitment to fiscal responsibility. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Hugo Lowell, the Guardian’s White House correspondent, about why the truth may be considerably more venal than that. Here are the headlines.
Five big stories
Scotland | Scottish Labour is celebrating an “incredible” win in a pivotal Holyrood byelection, beating the incumbent SNP and fighting off Reform UK’s “racist” campaigning, in a result that confounded predictions and will boost the party ahead of next year’s Scottish parliamentary elections.
Ukraine | Russia mounted an intense and sustained barrage of Kyiv overnight, with missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital where there was a succession of large explosions. The attack came after Russia vowed to take revenge on Ukraine after a drone attack on the country’s bomber fleet.
Reform UK | The chair of Reform UK has resigned after suggesting it was “dumb” of the party’s newest MP to ask the prime minister if he would ban the burqa. Zia Yusuf’s departure is a blow to Nigel Farage as he tries to professionalise his rapidly growing party.
Water industry | Bonuses for 10 water company executives in England, including the boss of Thames Water, will be banned with immediate effect over serious sewage pollution, as part of new powers brought in by the Labour government.
Technology | Amazon is reportedly developing software for humanoid robots that could perform the role of delivery workers, designed to “spring out” of vans. The tech giant is building a “humanoid park” in the US to test the robots.
In depth: ‘Now he’s out of the White House, he doesn’t have anything to lose’
The Musk intervention that sent the relationship spiralling was an attack on Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” – a vast legislative compendium of the president’s tax and spending policies which would extend tax cuts, slash the social safety net, benefit the rich above the poor, end Biden-era green energy incentives and ramp up spending on border security and the military. Impartial analysis suggests that it could add an astonishing $2.4tn to the US deficit within 10 years.
Musk appeared to feel liberated to speak in such critical terms by the end of his tenure as a government official. He said that he is outraged at a package that will turn Americans into “debt slaves”. But as events of the last 24 hours seem to corroborate, his attack on such a major plank of Trump’s policy agenda may have more personal roots. “His discontent had been simmering for a while,” Hugo said. “And now he’s out of the White House, he doesn’t have anything to lose.”
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How has Musk’s relationship with Trump changed?
While Musk appeared to run rampant through government in his role at the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), there were some limits on how much latitude Trump was prepared to extend him.
The inflection point in the relationship, Hugo said, was in March, when it emerged that Musk had arranged private briefings on the Pentagon’s plans for any potential war with China without consulting the White House first. Even by the standards of the Trump administration, that represented a flagrant conflict of interest, given Musk’s considerable business interests in China. Those who are sceptical about Trump’s interest in propriety suggest that he was more piqued by the sense that Musk was operating outside his control.
“That really changed the dynamic,” Hugo said. “He didn’t like that he had to find out about it in the New York Times, and he didn’t like the notion that this guy was profiting off him. And there are a lot of people in the administration who thought he was too overtly amassing power for his own personal gain.”
Musk worked as a “special government employee” – a temporary hire limited to 130 days a year in a government role. “He wanted that extended,” Hugo said. “But the White House counsel’s office was clear that he couldn’t serve any longer.”
And just days after his official departure, the White House withdrew its nominee for Nasa administrator, Jared Isaacman, after it emerged that he had previously donated to Democrats. Isaacman, a billionaire CEO and private astronaut, was Musk’s pick for the role, and had close ties to his company SpaceX.
“That was really important for him,” Hugo said; indeed, he referred to it in his X broadside yesterday. Alongside Doge’s dubious record in finding the savings it promised, Musk’s failure to secure his preferred nominee for Treasury secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the brand damage his role did to Tesla, there is a sense that his tenure has left him worse off than when he started, he added. “He may be asking: what’s he got to show for his time in government to his own benefit?”
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What does Musk say the rift is about?
Musk initially focused his public anger on the “big, beautiful bill”. That “massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill” is a “disgusting abomination,” Musk said on X on Tuesday. “Shame on those who voted for it.”
By this account, and even if his language is pretty ripe, Musk’s disquiet is narrowly focused on a matter of policy in the public interest. He argues that as it now stands, the tax bill will undermine the work he did at Doge, and casts himself as a crusader for responsible fiscal management. He interspersed his attacks on Trump yesterday with old clips of Republicans arguing for a balanced budget.
The issue is still a live one because the bill is yet to make its way through the Senate: “It is still likely to pass, but not without major changes,” Hugo said. “Generally speaking, Republican senators are much more fiscally conservative.” Yesterday, the Hill reported claims that there are two “pretty definite ‘no’s” already, meaning that Republicans can only afford one more to keep the bill alive.
Criticisms from fiscal conservatives have intensified since Musk’s attack, and one of the two Republican senators expected to vote no, Ron Johnson, has called for “a smaller version of the bill”. While Johnson and another senator, Rand Paul, want to make deeper cuts, others are alarmed about what voters will make of measures already in the bill that would mean about 10 million people losing coverage under a health insurance scheme for people on low incomes, Medicaid. Trump, for his part, has told House Republicans: “Don’t fuck around with Medicaid.”
If fiscal hawks like Johnson and Paul prevail, they are likely to credit Musk with giving them momentum – but while the result might be a bill that adds less to the deficit, that would probably alienate many working-class voters who supported Trump last year.
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Are there any other factors?
Consequential though his intervention might be, there are good reasons to doubt that a zealous commitment to balancing the budget is the real reason for Musk’s decision to go public. After all, Musk supported the Democrats until he took umbrage at Biden policies that supported trade unions and a decision to exclude Tesla from an electric vehicle summit at the White House. “It’s not ideological, it’s self-serving,” Hugo said. “He may talk about the deficit for cover, but the way he has conducted himself politically in the past suggests that he primarily operates out of self-interest.”
This time, the real bone of contention – beyond his broader alienation from the White House – appears to have been a provision in the legislation ending a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that helps people buy Teslas. Yesterday, Musk called the decision “very unfair!!”, while Trump said: “He only developed a problem when he found out I would cut the EV mandate.”
“Musk really wanted that to be in there,” Hugo said. “Tesla spent about a quarter of a million on lobbying to have that included. This is at a time when the company isn’t doing that well, partly because of Musk’s own image, but also because of a broader slowdown in electric vehicle orders.” Yesterday, the 14% fall in Tesla’s share price saw $152bn off its value.
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How much does all of this matter?
It’s less than 24 hours since Politico published a story suggesting that Trump was likely to take an indulgent view of Musk’s indiscretions – and quoting administration sources pointing out that Musk’s posts had targeted the bill and Congress rather than Trump himself. That view is now, obviously, impossible to sustain.
Still, you can see why the White House would be nervous. Trump’s pantomime fallouts are very rarely with people who have the power to do him serious harm; Musk, though, has hinted that he might fund primary challenges to Republicans who back the bill, warning that “in November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people”.
Hugo is sceptical that he will follow through. “A gazillion things will happen between now and then, and I just don’t believe this is going to be his animating issue,” he said. But even if he chooses not to spend lavishly, three and a half years of allegations akin to the ones he made yesterday about the Epstein files (which, the White House said, constituted “an unfortunate episode from Elon”) aren’t likely to do wonders for Trump’s popularity.
British readers may recall another instance of a chaotic leader getting on the wrong side of a kingmaking ally with a god complex. Donald Trump can’t be forced to resign like Boris Johnson was – but even Dominic Cummings wasn’t armed with almost $400bn.
What else we’ve been reading
Three years after the deaths of our colleague Dom Phillips and Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira, the Guardian’s Tom Phillips retraced their final steps and joined the Indigenous communities continuing the dangerous, often gruelling work of protecting the rainforest. Aamna
A new play on the Spycops scandal explores police injustice and the infiltration of over 1,000 political groups, as director Rhiannon White spotlights the women whose lives were shattered, and how activism itself was undermined. Aamna
The Filter has 83 excellent Father’s Day gifts for under £50. I will say that if I receive a 47-piece ratchet screwdriver and bit set I’m going to read it as an observation about my questionable commitment to DIY, though. Archie
Summer is fast approaching, though it doesn’t quite look or feel like it. I loved these expert tips, from switching to lighter fabrics to finding a “summer scent,” which show you don’t need to spend much to make the most of the warmer months. Aamna
As the property market has run out of control over the last three decades, new builds have been a vaunted part of the solution. Anoosh Chakelian has an excellent piece in the New Statesman about how rough that’s been for many of the people who end up living in them. Archie
Sport
Tennis | The world No 1, Aryna Sabalenka, ended Iga Świątek’s tilt at a fourth consecutive French Open crown 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 to set up a final against No 2 seed Coco Gauff, who beat local wildcard Loïs Boisson in straight sets.
Football | Sarina Wiegman has defended her management style after finding herself without Euro 2022 winners Mary Earps, Fran Kirby and Millie Bright for July’s defence of their European title. There was good news on Thursday for England as Wiegman announced her squad selection, with the Chelsea forward Lauren James included.
Football | Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal dazzled for Spain, scoring twice in the Nations League semi-final against France in Stuttgart to inspire a 5-4 victory, putting his team into Sunday’s final.
The front pages
The Guardian splashes on “Labour bans bonuses for 10 water bosses amid worsening pollution” and the i paper leads with “UK water boss bonuses finally banned amid public anger at sewage scandal”. The Telegraph has “Reform civil war over burka ban” and the Times leads on “Migration could force reform of rights treaty”. The FT splashes on “Trump and Xi dial down rhetoric and agree new round of trade talks” and the Daily Mail has “Russia blames UK for drone attack on jets”. The Metro leads on “We’ve never felt hurt like this” as two teens sentenced for the manslaughter of an 80-year-old man walking his dog, and the Express has “Never forget their sacrifice” on D-day veterans.
Something for the weekend
Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now
Book
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s former prime minister, captured global attention with her empathetic leadership. Now, she’s written a strikingly different kind of political memoir. The “disarmingly likable” and “warm” Ardern steers away from the minutiae of domestic politics, focusing instead on globally resonant events, such as the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack, and the more universally relatable dramas of her personal life. The result is an emotionally rich and candid read. Gaby Hinsliff
TV
Stick | ★★★☆☆
This series stars an “eminently watchable” Owen Wilson as washed-up golf pro Pryce Cahill. A televised meltdown at the height of his career has left him reduced to selling golf gear, giving lessons to wealthy retirees, and hustling for cash in bars. His shot at redemption appears when he discovers teen, Santi (Peter Dager), might just be a golf prodigy. The easy to watch series never outstays its welcome, and the cast all deliver solid performances. Lucy Mangan
Music
Pulp: More | ★★★★☆
Pulp’s first album in 24 years delivers anthems and rage for their next life stage: middle age. On Background Noise, they explore how divorce affects the possibility of finding love again, while Tina channels the spirit of Pulp classics’ Babies and Disco 2000, but the missed chances now come with added weight of time. Musically, there are touches of disco, Gallic chanson, tinny electronics and even some violin. A nostalgic album that will delight longtime fans and quietly move those who aren’t. Alexis Petridis
Today in Focus
The Swiss village buried by a glacier collapse
Tess McClure reports on a landslide in Switzerland that left one person missing and destroyed a village
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Edward Burra’s work, especially his watercolours capturing demi-monde life in interwar Paris and New York, is a vivid, distinctive record of the era. His paintings of urban life and queer culture during the Roaring Twenties are held in major collections, as is his extensive archive at Tate Britain. Yet the 20th-century painter, draughtsman and printmaker is still often called “one of the great known unknowns of modern British art.”
A new exhibition at Tate Britain aims to change that, putting his often-overlooked work centre stage and introducing Burra to a new generation, more than 50 years after his last show at the gallery.
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday.
