In Musk-Trump breakup, here’s where Silicon Valley power players stand

After six months of slashing budgets and gutting federal departments, Elon Musk took a chainsaw to his relationship with President Donald Trump this week as their simmering feud spilled onto social media.

It started with tweets about the Republican spending bill, which is projected to add $2.4 trillion to the national debt. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk wrote Tuesday on X. 

In response, Trump threatened to cut Musk’s contracts. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” the president wrote Thursday on Truth Social. 

And then, lest you thought the relationship could be repaired, Musk promptly accused Trump of being in the Jeffrey Epstein files. (Trump has previously denied ever being on Epstein’s plane or island.) 

It’s the end of a (brief) era for Silicon Valley. The Trump-Musk relationship was a lynchpin between tech and Washington, as Musk staffed his Department of Government Efficiency with people from Palantir and SpaceX and advocated for the Trump administration to contract with private tech companies. 

Now that the bromance is over, a crucial question remains: Who was a ride-or-die Trumpie, and who will follow Musk into the political crossfire?

In case anyone needed help deciding, Musk issued a word of warning: “Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years …” 

The Standard is tracking everyone in the Musk-verse and beyond as the tech industry weighs his words against Trump’s power. Here’s where they stand.

The tech investor has long been a Musk loyalist. “You have my sword,” Calacanis swore to Musk back in 2022, during his acquisition of Twitter.  Now he’s making good on that promise, defending the SpaceX billionaire in his spat with the president.

“The Trump administration should recognize Elon’s point about the budget & build a bridge with him — & the majority of Americans — who want to see us cut spending,” Calacanis tweeted Thursday. “Here’s what the admin should say/do: we hear you Elon, we are going to sharpen our pencils and iterate on BBB to address the Americans people’s concerns over the debt. Take the off ramp!”

The hedge fund manager has a storied history with Musk. The two billionaires have bonded over their disdain for diversity and inclusion programs, and Ackman in 2023 defended Musk against antisemitism allegations. But Ackman has also been an outspoken Trump supporter. 

In the midst of the breakup, Ackman reiterated his love for both men. “I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country,” he tweeted. “We are much stronger together than apart.” 

In February, the writer and tech entrepreneur, a vocal Trump critic, cautioned Musk to “take your time” as DOGE began gutting federal departments. “Companies are born and die within the system, and it’s ok,” Graham wrote on X. “But this is the system itself we’re talking about here.”

Although Musk didn’t heed Graham’s warning, the Y Combinator cofounder is still taking the billionaire’s side. When investor Spencer Hakimian tweeted that he would “stand with” Musk over Trump, Graham replied, “same here.”  

The Trump-Musk divide puts Sequoia investor Maguire in a particularly precarious position. He’s been a powerful advocate for Musk, pushing his venture capital firm to invest in SpaceX and arranging Musk’s last-minute trip to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

But Maguire has also been one of the loudest Trump supporters in Silicon Valley. He’s written publicly about his donations to Trump’s campaign and, since the election, has continued to praise the president.  

If Maguire’s taking a side, he hasn’t revealed it yet — except for an X post complimenting Musk’s moral fortitude. “Elon leaves it all on the field and he puts what he believes in ahead of himself,” he wrote Thursday morning. “How can you not be inspired by that? (Even if you disagree with him).”

Asparouhov, cofounder of in-space manufacturing startup Varda Space and partner at Founders Fund, emphasized the impact this falling out will have on the industry. Musk announced he would decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft “immediately.” The spacecraft is the only vehicle the U.S. has to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

“It now means that the space station itself is basically stranded,” Asparouhov said on the TBPN podcast. Musk later walked back that threat after an X user urged him to “cool off.”

Still, Asparouhov pointed out that Starlink’s revenue would surpass the NASA budget in the next few years. In terms of dominating space, Musk’s “own company is basically about to become as large of an actor as the entire United States.” 

So no, Asparouhov added, when it comes to Musk and Trump, “I don’t think there’s going to be a de-escalation here.” 

The venture capitalist has said he’s a “huge fan” of DOGE and is “doing my best to help them.” He’s also been a vocal Trump supporter. 

As an investor in X, Lonsdale joked that he appreciates what the Trump-Musk fallout “probably does for metrics” on the platform. Still, he reiterated his support for both men. “USA is VERY lucky to have both E and Pres Trump,” he wrote on X. 

The Andreessen Horowitz partner spearheaded the firm’s American Dynamism fund and has repeatedly endorsed Musk as an industrial pioneer. But as Trump and Musk duke it out, she tweeted a cryptic and mournful quote from ​​Democratic Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson: “These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world. And then we f***ed up the end game.” 

The investor is in a tough spot: He’s a longtime Musk supporter, and he’s serving as Trump’s AI and crypto czar. As of Thursday evening, he had yet to wade into the feud.