White House insiders told the Daily Caller Thursday that the snubbing of Elon Musk’s NASA pick was the final straw after months of friction between he and the Trump White House.
After Musk publicly criticized Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” for days, Trump finally alleged the former head of DOGE has Trump Derangement Syndrome. Then the floodgates opened: Musk called for the president’s impeachment and alleged his former boss is in the Epstein Files.
White House insiders told the Caller Musk had been over-asking and trying to act like a second president. He was being told no a lot, something that caused him to become increasingly irritable over time.
Some of those big asks were for specific leaders at the IRS, CIA, and perhaps most notably, NASA. Days before the public implosion, Trump withdrew the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally, to run the agency. Sources told the Caller that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Musk regularly argued with Sergio Gor, director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, over staffing. But he also feuded over policy issues.
He was kept out of the State Department by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his access was limited at the Pentagon, an official told the Caller.
In March, the New York Times reported that Musk would receive a briefing at the Pentagon on the military’s plans if a war broke out with China, which was later denied by the administration.
For several weeks leading up to the briefing, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers were active in the Pentagon, a source familiar told the Caller. But following the news of the briefing, which apparently caused significant strife between Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the DOGE staffers mostly dispersed.
“This has been simmering for awhile… no one at the White House likes Elon and while some people like DOGE, no one likes the DOGE monkey minions running around,” one senior Trump administration official told the Caller.
In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
“The way he’s going out is symptomatic of his habits because it’s quite bizarre,” one senior Trump administration official said.
After Trump told reporters that Musk is upset over EV tax credits being left out of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Musk repeatedly took to X to say that the president was lying.
Despite Musk’s public opposition to EV tax credits and insistence he did not want them in the bill, a senior Congressional source told the Caller Musk did ask Speaker Mike Johnson to include the credits in the Big Beautiful Bill.
Meanwhile, DOGE staffers are being told to conduct “business as usual.”
“I just got to doge HQ. I’m the last man here. The place cleared out as a precaution,” one told the Caller.
Similarly, a White House official told the Caller that they are still very focused on passing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” and that Musk’s meltdown would not be a distraction to their mission. The official added that Trump always knew Musk’s feeling on the bill and that it was “unfortunate that Elon has spiraled out this way.” (RELATED: ‘Tough Call’: Daily Caller Reporter Appears To Stump Elon Musk With Question)
A few weeks ago, one staffer sensed something was wrong, or that a blowup may be coming.
Musk was standing alone outside of the White House. The staffer took the opportunity to praise him for his work within the government.
Musk muttered a thank you. He looked dejected. Sad. The staffer was worried.
“What was going on here?” the staffer wondered. A few weeks later, the whole world would find out.
Amber Duke contributed to this report.
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