President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s bromance imploded on Thursday after the latter criticized the former’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
It was gold for late-night hosts like Stephen Colbert.
“Now Donald Trump is a Tesla owner who hates Elon Musk? He’s never been more relatable,” Colbert said.
Musk, who once referred to himself as the “First Buddy,” stepped down from his role at DOGE in May. Cracks in the pair’s relationship began surfacing earlier this week when Musk called the spending bill — which includes provisions on AI regulation and tax cuts — a “disgusting abomination.” Trump publicly ignored the dig until Thursday morning when he answered press questions at a White House event.
“He knew every aspect of this bill — better than almost anybody —and he never had a problem until right after he left,” Trump said. “He said the most beautiful things about me. He hasn’t said bad things about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
Trump added, “People leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile.”
That appeared to set Musk off, resulting in a flurry of X posts directed at Trump, some of which extended beyond criticism of the spending bill.
Trump responded on Truth Social. The public back-and-forth was not great for Tesla’s stock price and also hurt Dogecoin.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Business Insider that Musk’s comments were an “unfortunate episode.”
The whole spectacle made for some great television, however.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Colbert’s 12-minute monologue about Trump and Musk’s feud has garnered over 1.5 million views on YouTube so far. The host gave a spirited play-by-play breakdown of the fallout, including when Trump told reporters he “helped Elon a lot.”
“It’s true,” Colbert said, impersonating Trump. “I’ve helped Elon a lot during the campaign. I helped him declutter his bank account of $288 million. He would hand me every dollar out, hold it, and I would say ‘this one sparks joy.’ And in the pocket it goes safe and sound with Daddy.”
At one point, Colbert compared Trump and Musk’s battle to cast members on Bravo’s “Real Housewives.”
“Let’s recap together,” Colbert said. “The most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world, each with their own missiles, are throwing haymakers at each other, like ‘Real Housewives’ on a girls’ trip.”
Colbert said the situation could’ve spiraled out of control, but thankfully, a cooler head stepped in to calm things down: Kanye West. West implored the two to stop fighting in an X post on Thursday.
“You know things are bad when the rational voice mediating your dispute is Kanye West,” Colbert said.
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Meyers addressed Trump and Musk’s dispute during the “Closer Look” segment. The 15-minute clip has gained over 1.7 million views so far.
“Another male friendship destroyed. This is why men are so lonely. These two used to be inseparable,” Meyer said. “Onstage, on foreign trips, at rocket launches, in the Oval Office. Just last week, Trump gave him a ceremonial golden key he stole from the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ ride at Disneyland.”
Meyers played clips of reporters discussing the drama, including one that touched on Musk’s accusation that Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files. Jeffrey Epstein is the disgraced financier who died by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 after being found guilty of sex trafficking minors.
“It’s clear as ever that neither of these guys really believed in anything,” Meyers said. “Elon spending $300 million to get Republicans elected and now he’s shocked that they’re doing the thing everyone said they would do. And in the process, Trump used Elon to get back into power. You know, in a way, they were right: watching these guys destroy each other is both big and beautiful.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Kimmel, whose monologue has over 1.5 million views on YouTube, said he planned to discuss the Indiana Pacers battling the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals before Trump and Musk traded verbal jabs.
“We thought the focus would be on basketball, but instead, once again, the spotlight has been stolen by another round orange thing,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel focused much of his 10-minute monologue on Musk’s X post mentioning the Epstein files. He compared the pair’s feud to the “Star Wars” franchise.
“Vader turns on the emperor again,” Kimmel said.
At one point, Kimmel joked about Musk agreeing with an X post that said Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance.
“Which means JD better get that waterproof eyeliner out of the drawer,” Kimmel said. “He’s in a bit of a fix.”
Kimmel managed to tie in Diddy’s ongoing trial in Manhattan.
“But now you’ve got one MAGA hero accusing another MAGA hero of withholding the Epstein files because he himself is a part of them. And what do they do? I can’t wait to find out. At the end of this one of them’s in a cell with Diddy, that’s what I think,” Kimmel said.
The Daily Show
Michael Kosta, a senior correspondent on “The Daily Show,” also discussed Trump and Musk’s feud. The clip has over 1.5 million views on YouTube.
“By the way, can we just point out how crazy 2025 is? Most people can’t afford to eat eggs anymore,” Kosta said. “Meanwhile, these two billionaires are attacking each other from different social media platforms that they each own. Maybe we should eat the rich?”
Kosta also touched on Trump’s threat to end contracts between the government and Musk’s companies.
“Elon’s government contracts can’t be worth that much. Oh, it’s $6.3 billion last year? Elon, you idiot. This is why you always sign a prenup,” Kosta said.
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Fallon began his 4-minute monologue, which has over 204,000 views on YouTube, with pop culture references.
“Things have taken a shocking turn with one of the hottest couples on ‘Love Island,'” Fallon said, adding that the relationship “went off a cliff faster than a self-driving Tesla.”
He then mentioned actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who are embroiled in a tense legal battle related to the 2024 film, “It Ends with Us.”
“I’m not saying it’s bad, but right now Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are like, ‘Guys, take it easy. This is getting out of hand.'”
Fallon also mentioned Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, who are dating.
“I can’t believe their relationship fell apart this fast. I mean, a week ago they were all over each other like Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at a Knicks game,’ he said.
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