Almost everything you’ve read about the Trump-Musk feud is probably wrong

Brett Arends's ROI

Elon Musk has embarked on one bold move in distancing himself — and thereby Tesla — from Trump and the MAGA brand

Last Updated: June 10, 2025 at 1:47 p.m. ET
First Published: June 10, 2025 at 12:08 p.m. ET

Three good things happened to Tesla last week, and Wall Street missed them. The electric-vehicle company’s CEO, Elon Musk, took a bold — and brilliant — step toward “de-Trumping” the brand. President Donald Trump then wrapped himself up in a First Amendment nightmare by threatening to take away Musk’s federal government contracts as direct punishment for Musk’s political comments. (That surely, even these days, crosses a line — if constitutional lines exist at all.) 

Oh, yeah, and the stock got cheaper.