How Trump and Musk went from best friends to frenemies to nuclear war

President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk are in the middle of a spectacular and tawdry breakup that has the world riveted.

Here’s a history of their rise and fall as best buds.

Don and Elon: The Union Begins

The Trump-Musk coupling began in earnest in July 2024, about four months before that year’s presidential election. On July 13, minutes after an attempted assassination on Trump, Musk stopped dancing around his yearslong march to the MAGA right and officially endorsed Trump’s campaign.