Musk said in a post on X Thursday that SpaceX "will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately" in light of Trump's statement that floated canceling the billionaire's government contracts and subsidies.
The SpaceX CEO included a screenshot of Trump's earlier Truth Social post, which said terminating Musk's government contracts would be the "easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars."
Musk walked that decision back around five hours later.
"This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," X user Fab25june wrote on the platform.
"Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon," Musk said.
SpaceX's Dragon spaceships are used to transport NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station.
In a statement to Business Insider, Bethany Stevens, NASA press secretary, said: "NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The comments came as the feud between the former allies exploded on Thursday, with Trump and Musk publicly trading insults on their respective social media platforms, Truth Social and X.
Musk's government contracts are worth billions, with SpaceX working closely with NASA. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, designed to be reusable, can carry up to seven passengers to and from orbit and is the first private spacecraft to transport humans to and from the ISS, the company says.
Since 2020, NASA has relied on SpaceX's Dragon to transport astronauts to and from orbit. The agency, which retired its space shuttle program in 2011, depended on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crewed missions prior to partnering with SpaceX.
In 2024, NASA announced SpaceX was awarded a $843 million contract to help decommission the ISS by the early 2030s. The plan involved using a larger, super-powered Dragon spaceship to push the ISS out of orbit, eventually landing in a remote part of the ocean. NASA planned to transition to using privately-owned space stations in the future.
Steve Bannon, who served as the White House chief strategist in Trump's first term, said in an interview Thursday that Trump should act immediately in response to Musk's announcement about decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft.
"President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act," Bannon said, referring to a federal law that grants the president authority to influence or control domestic industry in the name of national defense,"and seize SpaceX tonight before midnight."
Elon Musk and Donald Trump's friendship unraveled publicly over a tax bill dispute.
Kevin Dietsch; David Becker/Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
Elon Musk and Donald Trump's friendship unraveled publicly over a tax bill dispute.
Musk criticized Trump's tax bill, calling it the 'Big Ugly Spending Bill.'
Here's how their recently fragile friendship fractured on Thursday, minute-by-minute.
Twenty-five minutes of live TV, more than a dozen posts on X, and three posts on Truth Social over the period offive hours (and counting) — that's how the already fractured friendship of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump publicly unraveled on Thursday.
The first signs of trouble began when Musk showed opposition to Trump's spending bill, the "One Big Beautiful Bill," though he never explicitly targeted Trump.
"Shame on those who voted for it," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, referring to Congress members who voted for Trump's tax cut bill.
Trump, for his part, had stayed uncharacteristically mum about Musk's criticism of the bill.
But that all changed on Thursday morning.
Here is a minute-by-minute breakdown of how the relationship between two of the most powerful men on the planet devolved.
11:20 a.m. ET
Musk began digging up Trump's old posts on what was then Twitter about the deficit, including one from January of 2013.
Musk unearthed another old X post by Trump from back in July 2012, presumably as a swipe at the new Republican tax bill that many economists and the congressional Budget Office said would increase the country's deficits.
Trump responded to Musk's attacks for the first time when answering press questions during a White House event to welcome German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
"And you know Elon's upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles," said Trump. "And they're having a hard time, the electric vehicles. And they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy. Elon knew this from the beginning; he knew it from a long time ago."
12:07 p.m. ET
Trump's comments about Musk continued at the press appearance.
"He knew every aspect of this bill — better than almost anybody —and he never had a problem until right after he left," said Trump. "He said the most beautiful things about me. He hasn't said bad things about me personally, but I'm sure that'll be next. But I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot."
"People leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile," Trump continued.
"I don't know what it is. It's sort of Trump derangement syndrome, I guess they call it, but we have it with others, too. They leave and they wake up in the morning, and the glamour's gone. The whole world is different, and they become hostile," he added.
12:25 p.m. ET
Musk began a whirlwind of tweets soon after, responding in near real time to what Trump said during the press appearance.
"False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" Musk posed on X.
False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it! https://t.co/V4ztekqd4g
Musk polls his X followers about creating a new political party "that actually represents the 80% in the middle." Mark Cuban quoted the post with three checkmarks.
Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?
Trump responds to Musk with two consecutive posts on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
"Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump wrote.
"The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!" the president continued.
2:48 p.m. ET
Musk responds to Trump's posts on Truth Social, calling them "such an obvious lie."
Trump posts on Truth Social again to defend his tax bill.
"I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress," Trump wrote.
"It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT," Trump added.
4:09 p.m. ET
Musk says SpaceX will decommission its Dragon spacecraft "immediately."
SpaceX's Dragon spaceships transport NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station. Prior to partnering with SpaceX, the agency depended on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crewed missions.
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
Musk says that Trump's tariffs will "cause a recession in the second half of this year."
Some economists have also predicted that Trump's tariffs would hurt the economy, and Trump himself declined to rule out the chances of a recession back in March.
JPMorgan had predicted a 60% chance of a US recession after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on April 2. The bank adjusted the possibility down to below 50% recently after Trump paused most of his highest tariffs.
The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year https://t.co/rbBC11iynE
Musk retweeted what appears to be a video of Trump partying with Epstein from the 1990s, doubling down on his earlier statement about the Epstein files.
"This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Business Insider in a statement. "The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again."
Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
A walkback
Musk took a softer tone later on Thursday night.
Some five hours after his post about decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft, he walked back the decision in a response to an X user.
"This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," X user Fab25june wrote on the platform.
"Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon," Musk wrote at 9:20 p.m.
In a separate exchange on X, billionaire investor Bill Ackman encouraged Musk and Trump to make up.
"I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart," Ackman wrote.
Jackie Ko, 27, a US-based Carat, has a collection of thousands of Seventeen photo cards.
Jackie Ko
Seventeen's new album has been fueling a K-pop photo card trading frenzy.
The variety of photo cards has spawned a booming market for trading and collecting.
The cards' popularity come as K-pop companies' stock soars.
"I have your man," I typed at 1 a.m., my hands trembling with excitement. "Do you have Joshua on hand to trade?"
Joshua Hong's 13-member K-pop band, Seventeen, released a new album on May 26. That album comes with serious math for trading card aficionados. There are seven versions of the record, each containing one to four photo cards — that's 264 unique cards, or "boy paper," to collect, not counting rare releases. I wanted him badly enough to wheel and deal my way through a maelstrom of trading card listings.
My late-night obsession is a small sliver of the sprawling business of K-pop photo card trading, a blood sport that's equal parts lottery and enterprise.
Supply and demand
The pieces of boy paper I'm attempting to secure are highly desirable collectibles in the fandom, said Kay Koo, an expert in marketing and K-pop from Korea University. Fans buy copies of the same album, hoping to find their favorite card.
I started collecting boy paper this May, when Seventeen released the "Happy Burstday" album.
Cheryl Teh
"They serve as tangible indicators of fan loyalty," Koo told BI.
"Some fans even purchase over 100 copies of the same album to collect every photo card produced for that release, humorously calling this practice 'collecting Dragon Balls,' referencing the Japanese manga where collecting all seven Dragon Balls summons a dragon capable of granting any wish," Koo added.
My friend and I brought our photo cards out for a little excursion to Starbucks this week.
Cheryl Teh
Jackie Ko, a proud Carat — the name Seventeen fans go by, à la Swifties — has amassed 3,300 cards since she started collecting in 2021. She buys albums, keeps most of the cards she pulls, then tries to trade duplicates.
Ko, who's based in the US, also looks for fresh pieces from online sites like Mercari Japan, Neokyo, and PocaMarket — or from her local K-pop store's photo card trading nights.
"The chase and journey of finding certain photo cards is thrilling in itself as well, and there comes a sense of achievement when said card is found, or when a certain collection is finally complete," she said.
Ko estimates she's spent around $25,000 on photo cards and albums. Some of the more expensive cards she owns are rare cards of Seventeen's leader, S.Coups — she's seen them being resold for around $400 a piece.
Kia Pastoral, who became a Carat in October 2022, has a growing collection of 368 photo cards. She goes on X to look for new pieces and relies on her friends in the Philippines for more local trades. Pastoral estimates she's spent around $600 on cards.
Ko and Pastoral keep their collections of photocards securely in plastic binders and folders.
Kia Pastoral; Jackie Ko
"I buy the albums not just for the photo cards, but also for the album itself and other inclusions," Pastoral said. "I definitely love the feeling of unboxing new albums and getting excited to see which member I pull."
Ko described the adrenaline rush from buying albums as "addictive."
"I don't think I would be buying this many albums if not for the photo cards," she said.
The high
I can relate to Ko and Pastoral's descriptions of the unboxing high. I bought five albums from a local K-pop store in Singapore for around $25 Singapore dollars, or $19.50, a piece.
Staff at two K-pop album stores in Singapore said new shipments of the Seventeen album came in just this week, and fans have been snapping it up.
One K-Pop store in Singapore put up a sign showing all the photo cards fans may be able to obtain from each album — your comprehensive guide to boy paper.
Cheryl Teh
Much like Pokémon card collectors, Carats like Ko and Pastoral keep their photo cards neatly protected in decorative card holders and a variety of A4 and A5 binders.
Both fans have brought their photo cards on trips. Ko, for one, says she doesn't leave the house for an outing without a photo card on her.
Ko and Pastoral have brought their photo cards on plane rides and to the beach.
Jackie Ko; Kia Pastoral
Fans and local stores can make money in the photo card resale market.
Listings on an online Singaporean marketplace range from $5 to $25 per photo card. K-pop shops in Singapore also sell exclusive photo cards for $15 to $20 a piece.
Merchandising is king
The photo card feeding frenzy is just one branch of the sprawling landscape of K-pop, with its seemingly infinite supply of boy and girl groups debuting every year. Seventeen has been around for 10 years, and their peers at parent company Hybe, BTS, are set to return this month in full force for the group's 12th anniversary.
Though K-pop stocks dipped in 2024, Goldman Sachs analysts projected in a June 5 report that "Mega IPs" — bands like BTS, that perform in stadium-sized venues — would continue to buoy the companies this year.
Concerts, albums, and merchandising are all part of the monetization mechanism for bands under Hybe.
In 2023, Seventeen, per statistics compiled by Goldman, notched an all-time high of 4.5 million albums sold in week one of release that broke the Grammy-nominated BTS's record of 3.3 million copies.
Seventeen celebrated their 10th anniversary in May.
Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images
Photo cards aren't the only factor driving physical album sales.
"In the early years, fans used to buy more albums to collect additional photo cards. Nowadays, they often trade or sell them among themselves," said Stephanie Choi, an assistant professor in ethnomusicology at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
"There are so many different reasons for album purchase, and photo cards are one of the many reasons," Choi added. Fans may want to mass-buy albums to clinch spots at exclusive events or just to help their idols chart better.
Still, it's fair to say that Seventeen's fame isn't built on a house of cards.
"While photo cards are crucial for immediate sales, digital strategies and continuous online engagement are indispensable for long-term fan base growth and sustainable commercial success," Koo, the marketing expert from Korea University, added.
Login
