The morning after the Musk-Trump blowup, June 6, 2025, neither man apologized — but both started pumping the brakes. Musk reversed his threat to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and began agreeing with posts urging peace. Trump gave two interviews that kept his distance: contemptuous in tone, yet notably free of new bombs.
Compared with the previous day’s Epstein post and impeachment calls, the script had shifted from all-out war to a mutual search for off-ramps. For anyone tracking the intersection of tech and politics, June 6 was the feud’s first turning point: the worst case stopped getting worse.
Trump’s Cold Shoulder
Trump spoke by phone with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that morning. Asked about Musk, he shot back: “You mean the man who has lost his mind?” Was he interested in speaking with him? “Not particularly” — though Trump insisted it was Musk who wanted to talk.
Hours later, he gave CNN a second version of the same message: “I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem,” adding that he wouldn’t speak to him “for a while I guess, but I wish him well.” Privately, advisers described the president as sadder than angry; one official said he seemed “bummed” about the split with the man who had bankrolled and evangelized for him. The day before, Trump had suggested publicly that the relationship might be over — and that Musk had turned on him only because the bill cut electric-vehicle subsidies. The White House reading did not change on day two.
Musk Pumps the Brakes
Musk’s retreat was more concrete. Responding to a user who urged him not to pull Dragon from NASA, he wrote: “Good advice… Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.” That single line retracted the only threat that touched physical assets and genuinely endangered NASA missions — the one that had made space-industry watchers sweat.
He also started amplifying de-escalation on X. To Bill Ackman’s public plea for the two men to make peace, Musk replied “You’re not wrong,” and he agreed with another post calling for calm. The world’s-then-richest man offered no apology, but the posture had moved from open warfare to leaving a door open. Notably, the walk-back covered only Dragon: the Epstein-files post and the election claims stayed untouched, and no one on Musk’s side suggested the broader grievances about the spending bill had gone away.
The White House, Tesla, and the Peacemakers
The White House kept its line consistent: press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the whole thing “an unfortunate episode,” blaming the spending bill. Vice President JD Vance posted his support for Trump. Musk’s father, Errol, told reporters he had messaged his son to make sure the fight “fizzles out.”
Physical fallout surfaced too. A senior administration official said Trump was considering selling or giving away the red Tesla he had bought in March — a car that had been parked on the White House’s West Executive Driveway for junior staffers to use. Markets had already paid tuition on June 5, when Tesla shares logged their worst one-day drop on record. Meanwhile, allies on both sides kept working the phones to arrange a truce.
The Engagement Windfall: Platforms Win
The instant beneficiaries were the platforms. Per Sensor Tower data reported by TechCrunch, X jumped to No. 23 overall on the US App Store on June 5, against a 30-day average of No. 68; at press time on June 6 it sat at No. 19 among free iPhone apps. X’s Google Play ranking rose about 20 spots versus its prior-week average, US mobile active users grew 6% on June 5, and usage between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET ran 54% above the same window over the prior week. Truth Social’s weekly active users rose more than 400% — though X’s US mobile user base is roughly 100 times larger, so the flame-up meant more absolute users for X.
The lesson for the tech industry is direct: political conflict is history’s strongest user-recall campaign, and it simultaneously binds government contracts, subsidies, and reputational risk into corporate balance sheets. The June 6 signals repaired nothing on their own — Trump said he wouldn’t talk “for a while,” and Musk retracted none of his other allegations. Actual reconciliation was still days away.
Sources
- Trump calls Musk a man who “lost his mind” — ABC News
- Trump not focused on Musk, won’t speak “for a while” — CNN
- The 10 days that unravelled their relationship — BBC
- The Trump-Musk feud has been great for X — TechCrunch
AI-assisted summary compiled from the sources above, reviewed by a human before publishing.