Musk-Trump Feud

Hi Global Recap readers,

Today was a dizzying day of drama, to say the least.

When I started covering the Musk-Trump feud, I had no idea it would escalate this fast, from the Epstein list to Musk flip-flopping on retiring the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, even calling for Trump’s impeachment.

But the worst part? Other major news, like Russia’s heavy bombing of Ukraine, was mostly swept under the rug because of this feud. That said, we’ll cover those first before diving back into the drama.

🌐 WORLD
Fast Scroll News

🇺🇦 Russia Bombards Kyiv. Russia launched a mass missile and drone attack overnight, hitting Kyiv and several cities across Ukraine’s western regions. It stands accused of indiscriminately striking high-rise residential areas, killing at least four people and injuring 20 in Kyiv. The attack comes after a warning from Putin, shared by Trump on Truth Social, that Russia was planning an unspecified response to Ukraine's operation “Spider Web” that destroyed some of its strategic bombers. Kyiv’s mayor warned the death toll could rise, with rescue teams still digging through rubble.

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🇮🇱 Israel Arms Gaza Militia. Israel has been secretly supplying weapons to a Palestinian militia in Gaza, aiming to weaken Hamas, officials say. After a wave of speculation, Israeli PM Netanyahu admitted Israel “activated clans” in Gaza that oppose Hamas, but dodged claims about direct arms shipments. Yasser Abu Shabab, a militia leader in Rafah, accused of looting aid trucks last year, denied receiving weapons, calling the reports “invalid claims.” Critics warn Israel’s strategy could backfire, with opposition leader Yair Lapid saying, “The weapons going into Gaza will eventually be pointed at Israeli soldiers and civilians.”

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🇮🇷 Iran Orders Missile Materials. Iran has quietly contracted thousands of tons of ammonium perchlorate from China to rebuild its ballistic arsenal amid nuclear talks with the US. The haul, enough to fuel roughly 800 short-range missiles, is slated to arrive in the coming months and could bolster Iran’s IRGC and allied militias like Yemen’s Houthis. That’s where it gets weird: China’s foreign ministry says it knew nothing of the deal.

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🇺🇸 US Sanctions ICC Judges. US State Secretary Rubio announced sanctions on four International Criminal Court judges, calling their actions “illegitimate” for targeting America and Israel. The move comes after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The US had already sanctioned ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, freezing his accounts and restricting American employees from working with the court. The ICC fired back, saying the sanctions undermine global justice and embolden war criminals.

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🇺🇸 Trump’s New Take. Trump told Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, that Ukraine and Russia might need to “fight for a while” before peace happens, comparing the war to two feuding children. Merz sidestepped the remark, making sure to blame Putin while reaffirming Germany’s support for Ukraine. The meeting also touched on NATO spending, where Trump praised Germany’s increased defense budget but pushed allies to hit 5% of GDP. Merz also raised economic concerns, arguing Trump’s proposed 25% tariff on German cars would hurt both countries, but Trump made it clear the final decision would come down to EU negotiations.

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🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
Musk vs Trump:
Timeline

Well, that escalated quickly. Here’s an abbreviated timeline of the feud:

Principled Position

It all kicked off when Musk slammed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, calling it “massive, outrageous, pork-filled,” and a “disgusting abomination.” He followed that up by reposting years-old Trump posts where he railed against raising the debt ceiling and blasted lawmakers who didn’t balance the budget.

Up to this point, his criticism was seen as “principled,” as people put it, aimed at the bill itself, not at Trump personally.

Trump Fires Back

After confirming his fallout with Musk, Trump fired off two posts on Truth Social, saying Elon was “wearing thin,” accusing him of being bitter over losing EV subsidies, and even threatening to cancel all government contracts with Musk’s companies.

This is where things started to get a lot more personal.

Epstein

Then came the bombshell: Musk claimed Trump is in the Epstein files, sharing old videos of Trump hanging out with Epstein years ago.

• But the reaction was more of a shrug than shock; even Trump supporters had already been slamming FBI Director Patel and Attorney General Bondi for failing to release the full, unredacted files, despite earlier promises to do so.

• However, some Trump supporters argue that if Trump were actually on the list, Biden would have released it long ago.

SpaceX Pull Out

Musk also responded to Trump’s threats to pull contracts with his companies by announcing that SpaceX will immediately start decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft. That move would seriously hurt NASA’s ability to send cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station, since the agency now relies heavily on SpaceX.

• But then, a small account with fewer than 200 followers talked Musk out of it, at least publicly. Still, I think he either wanted to walk it back anyway or got pressure from SpaceX’s private investors.

Impeachment

After that, Musk jumped on a post calling for Trump’s impeachment and JD Vance to take over. Yikes. 😬

Bannon

Then there’s Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist during the 2016 campaign. He went on air demanding that Trump immediately sign an executive order to seize SpaceX.

• Musk responded by calling Bannon “peak retard.”

• If Trump actually took Bannon’s advice, it would hand his critics the perfect excuse to label him a “dictator.”

Closing

This feud is still going strong. Plenty more went down, but I’m skipping the details to keep it brief. Here’s a more comprehensive timeline for reference: Click here.

Also, thank you to everyone who voted in yesterday’s poll. Yesterday, I unfortunately couldn’t cover the points below in detail for the sake of brevity.

• Yes, a big chunk of the projected deficit comes from extending Trump-era tax cuts set to expire soon. Under budget rules, keeping them counts as new spending, even if it just preserves the status quo.

• There are also technical nuances. This is a reconciliation bill, not a standard budget, so it’s packed with phased-in policies, sunsets, and scorekeeping tricks that often obscure the true impact.

• Plus, it’s 1,000+ pages long.

I’ll try to cover this in more detail (if you’d like) when issues of government debt come up again in the near future.