Trump/Musk feud June 2025: spaceflight implications

[Slarty1080]

Thankfully, we can probably move on.  I still don't have a good sense of how much of this fight was "kayfabe" and how much of this was substantial.  Maybe a good bit of both.

I honestly don't understand why people keep thinking this.

Primarily because some of the posts and comments by both of these guys were all bluster and not reflective of obvious reality.  Had a hollow ring to it.

Yes IMO this whole affair is a storm in a tea cup. It will all be patched up, buried or otherwise kicked into the long grass as soon as the next brouhaha arrives over something else. What is said and what is actually done often seem to diverge these days.

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1932931600553066601

[catdlr]

https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1932931600553066601

.
@PressSec Karoline Leavitt says @realdonaldtrump "is appreciative" of @elonmusk's apology after their public feud last week, exchanging jabs on X over the spending bill.

Oh, goodie, time to rename this thread to "Trump/Musk Bromance". 

[jimvela]

Oh, goodie, time to rename this thread to "Trump/Musk Bromance". 

Give it a week or two.
These two egos were never going to get along well for any length of time.

[jongoff]

Oh, goodie, time to rename this thread to "Trump/Musk Bromance". 

Give it a week or two.
These two egos were never going to get along well for any length of time.

Yeah, my opinion is that while they were able to pull back from an outright war, that things have not gone back to the status quo ante.

Trump may not be going to try to cancel all of Elon's contracts, but is Trump going to spend any political capital at this point pushing for a pivot from Artemis to a human Mars mission that Elon would be the main beneficiary of? Seems unlikely.

While the Trump administration may not actively go after Elon's businesses via regulators, my guess is that they also aren't going to bend over backwards to rubber stamp things for him anymore either.

So yes, the sky isn't falling, but anyone treating this like last week was totally fake and had zero lasting consequences for Elon's businesses is being naive, IMO.

~Jon

[mn]

The fight was triggered in large part due to many of Trump's close associates not getting along with Elon. (Regardless of who is to blame on that)

That is still (or now even more) true and they will continue to do whatever is in their power to drive a wedge between Trump and Elon. Office politics at the highest level with the highest stakes.

This ..... show is far from over IMO

[yg1968]

Oh, goodie, time to rename this thread to "Trump/Musk Bromance". 

Give it a week or two.
These two egos were never going to get along well for any length of time.

Yeah, my opinion is that while they were able to pull back from an outright war, that things have not gone back to the status quo ante.

Trump may not be going to try to cancel all of Elon's contracts, but is Trump going to spend any political capital at this point pushing for a pivot from Artemis to a human Mars mission that Elon would be the main beneficiary of? Seems unlikely.

While the Trump administration may not actively go after Elon's businesses via regulators, my guess is that they also aren't going to bend over backwards to rubber stamp things for him anymore either.

So yes, the sky isn't falling, but anyone treating this like last week was totally fake and had zero lasting consequences for Elon's businesses is being naive, IMO.

~Jon

Trump mentioned Mars prior to his friendship with Musk, so his interest in Mars isn't really related to Musk. I think that Trump wants to be remembered as the President initiating the human exploration of Mars (the Journey to Mars doesn't really count since it went no where). I would expect that the ideas in the FY26 Budget will be proposed again in the FY27 Budget. But we are likely heading for a CR for FY26 and that has been true since the election and so that hasn't really changed. The biggest casualty in all of this is Isaacman. I am still disappointed about that. He would have been great.

[Coastal Ron]

The fight was triggered in large part due to many of Trump's close associates not getting along with Elon. (Regardless of who is to blame on that)

That is still (or now even more) true and they will continue to do whatever is in their power to drive a wedge between Trump and Elon. Office politics at the highest level with the highest stakes.

This implies that Elon Musk was tricked into his pointing out that Trump had a friendship with Epstein, and that Trump had guided the House into removing EV related funding streams that would hurt Tesla.

I think Musk was being authentic in how he felt, but I also think that Musk himself is fully to blame, since anyone and everyone that has followed Donald Trump knows what kind of person he is, and that he will do harm to anything related to reducing CO2 emissions. Musk knew this when he spent his time and money to get Trump elected.

This was a miscalculation on the part of Musk, but...

This ..... show is far from over IMO

Yep. 

[Robotbeat]

Oh, goodie, time to rename this thread to "Trump/Musk Bromance". 

Give it a week or two.
These two egos were never going to get along well for any length of time.

Yeah, my opinion is that while they were able to pull back from an outright war, that things have not gone back to the status quo ante.

Trump may not be going to try to cancel all of Elon's contracts, but is Trump going to spend any political capital at this point pushing for a pivot from Artemis to a human Mars mission that Elon would be the main beneficiary of? Seems unlikely.

While the Trump administration may not actively go after Elon's businesses via regulators, my guess is that they also aren't going to bend over backwards to rubber stamp things for him anymore either.

So yes, the sky isn't falling, but anyone treating this like last week was totally fake and had zero lasting consequences for Elon's businesses is being naive, IMO.

~Jon

Trump mentioned Mars prior to his friendship with Musk, so his interest in Mars isn't really related to Musk. I think that Trump wants to be remembered as the President initiating the human exploration of Mars (the Journey to Mars doesn't really count since it went no where). I would expect that the ideas in the FY26 Budget will be proposed again in the FY27 Budget. But we are likely heading for a CR for FY26 and that has been true since the election and so that hasn't really changed. The biggest casualty in all of this is Isaacman. I am still disappointed about that. He would have been great.

Actually, Trump I think had already talked to Elon at that time, back in the first administration. Before the bromance, sure, but Elon had influenced him already.

[clongton]

Oh, goodie, time to rename this thread to "Trump/Musk Bromance". 

Give it a week or two.
These two egos were never going to get along well for any length of time.

Yeah, my opinion is that while they were able to pull back from an outright war, that things have not gone back to the status quo ante.

Trump may not be going to try to cancel all of Elon's contracts, but is Trump going to spend any political capital at this point pushing for a pivot from Artemis to a human Mars mission that Elon would be the main beneficiary of? Seems unlikely.

While the Trump administration may not actively go after Elon's businesses via regulators, my guess is that they also aren't going to bend over backwards to rubber stamp things for him anymore either.

So yes, the sky isn't falling, but anyone treating this like last week was totally fake and had zero lasting consequences for Elon's businesses is being naive, IMO.

~Jon

After the fireworks have calmed down, breakups usually end up with a polite, quiet toleration of each other when they accidentally cross paths. I suspect this will be no different.

[Chris Bergin]

Does it mean we can lock this one too? (Please )

[RedLineTrain]

I agree that this discussion has run its course.  There are a few loose ends, like the fact that Vance is turning out to be Trump's ambassador/mediator with "little tech" (including Musk).  He was Musk's pathway to de-escalation in this feud.  He is also being inserted into space policy through the reconstitution of the National Space Council.

Maybe this would be a good jumping off point for another thread on that.

[unclemortynom]

I agree that this discussion has run its course.  There are a few loose ends, like the fact that Vance is turning out to be Trump's ambassador/mediator with "little tech" (including Musk).  He was Musk's pathway to de-escalation in this feud.  He is also being inserted into space policy through the reconstitution of the National Space Council.

Maybe this would be a good jumping off point for another thread on that.

Agree should lock it too many politics these days. We need to be prepared when alien spaceships come so we can immediately delete all discourse. Don't want those pesky guys messing with our nice world.

[Coastal Ron]

I agree that this discussion has run its course.  There are a few loose ends, like the fact that Vance is turning out to be Trump's ambassador/mediator with "little tech" (including Musk).  He was Musk's pathway to de-escalation in this feud.  He is also being inserted into space policy through the reconstitution of the National Space Council.

Maybe this would be a good jumping off point for another thread on that.

Agree should lock it too many politics these days.

These days? Not sure you know, but NASA was created BECAUSE OF politics, and politics sustains it to this day.

Maybe you don't want to see two people you support ragging on each other, but the vast amount of funding for NASA these days is related not to pure science, but to national policy - politics. Political goals, as well as political funding (i.e. which companies benefit from the funding).

This particular topic touches on both in substantial ways.

[yg1968]

See below:

Isaacman’s bold plan for NASA: Nuclear ships, seven-crew Dragons, accelerated Artemis:
https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1933270056323944908

[yg1968]

Musk called Trump before publicly expressing regret for some of his online attacks on the president:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/11/us/trump-news#musk-trump

But behind the scenes, advisers from both camps worked to arrange a détente.

Mr. Musk did not intend to leave the White House in such a huff, according to people close to him, even after he criticized Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill as fiscally irresponsible. But the president’s decision to withdraw his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close Musk associate, to run NASA was a humiliating turn for Mr. Musk. Over the ensuing week, he began venting to friends, both in person and over text messages, about Mr. Isaacman’s defenestration. In the days since the blowup between the two men, several people close to Mr. Musk encouraged him to put an end to the fight, believing that he had overstepped.

[catdlr]

Musk called Trump before publicly expressing regret for some of his online attacks on the president:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/11/us/trump-news#musk-trump

But behind the scenes, advisers from both camps worked to arrange a détente.

Mr. Musk did not intend to leave the White House in such a huff, according to people close to him, even after he criticized Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill as fiscally irresponsible. But the president’s decision to withdraw his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close Musk associate, to run NASA was a humiliating turn for Mr. Musk. Over the ensuing week, he began venting to friends, both in person and over text messages, about Mr. Isaacman’s defenestration. In the days since the blowup between the two men, several people close to Mr. Musk encouraged him to put an end to the fight, believing that he had overstepped.

It may indeed sound appealing for these two individuals to resolve their issues amicably; however, one must consider the potential consequences, namely the forfeiture of a nomination for the position of NASA Administrator.

[yg1968]

Musk called Trump before publicly expressing regret for some of his online attacks on the president:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/11/us/trump-news#musk-trump

But behind the scenes, advisers from both camps worked to arrange a détente.

Mr. Musk did not intend to leave the White House in such a huff, according to people close to him, even after he criticized Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill as fiscally irresponsible. But the president’s decision to withdraw his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close Musk associate, to run NASA was a humiliating turn for Mr. Musk. Over the ensuing week, he began venting to friends, both in person and over text messages, about Mr. Isaacman’s defenestration. In the days since the blowup between the two men, several people close to Mr. Musk encouraged him to put an end to the fight, believing that he had overstepped.

It may indeed sound appealing for these two individuals to resolve their issues amicably; however, one must consider the potential consequences, namely the forfeiture of a nomination for the position of NASA Administrator.

Isaacman's recent posts on X resemble those of a person that thinks that he still has a political future in the Republican party. I am still hoping that this detente leads to Trump rethinking his position. Perhaps that Vance can play a role in this, who knows?

[clongton]

Isaacman’s bold plan for NASA: Nuclear ships, seven-crew Dragons, accelerated Artemis:

After reading the article I am even sadder than before. I have ALWAYS been a huge supporter of NEP for spacecraft. Without it, HSF isn't going to really go anywhere beyond, at most, LEO and the moon. Sure, Starship will make it to Mars, but the potential for a vehicle that size is severely stunted by the amount of propellant it has to carry just to get there, with basically empty tanks. Then it needs to refuel on the surface to not only get back into LMO, but  then to make the TEI burn. Starship needs to be re-envisioned as a lander only, with smaller tanks with more crew or cargo accommodations, carried to Mars and back by a NEP spacecraft that can make the round trip on a single fill-up, from LEO to LMO and back to LEO. Mr. Isaacman was going to pivot NASA in that direction. I will be EXTREMELY surprised if whomever replaces him has either the vision or the guts to make that bold a pivot.

What a gut-wrenching loss to ALL of us this turn of events is.

[clongton]

Isaacman's recent posts on X resemble those of a person that thinks that he still has a political future in the Republican party. I am still hoping that this detente leads to Trump rethinking his position. Perhaps that Vance can play a role in this, who knows?

I for one would be over the moon ecstatic should that happen AND Mr. Isaacman stepped back into the position.