About 10 minutes into his bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, President Donald Trump was finally asked about the domestic elephant in the room: Elon Musk and his sharp criticisms this week of Trump’s agenda bill.

“He hasn’t said anything about me that’s bad,” Trump said. “I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill.”

Trump certainly got his wish. By the end of the meeting, he and Musk had quickly moved from what had been a legislative difference of opinion into the realm of personal attacks. Musk effectively live-tweeted his responses to Trump’s comments on his social media platform X, getting progressively more personal. And Trump ultimately hit back hard on his own platform, Truth Social.

It was the kind of clash many predicted would eventually arrive when the two powerful, outspoken and unwieldy billionaires formed their alliance of convenience last year. And it’s now arrived in a big way.

Late Thursday afternoon, Musk responded to an X user who chose Musk over Trump and called for the president’s impeachment by simply saying, “Yes.”

Ad Feedback

It’s increasingly hard to see how this spat gets resolved without getting even uglier given what’s being said.

Shortly before the Oval Office event, Musk specifically invoked Trump’s flip-flops on the national debt, citing years-old tweets from when Trump was much more of a professed spending hawk. (“Where is the man who wrote these words?” Musk asked. “Was he replaced by a body double!?”)

But Trump has never been particularly sensitive about his rhetorical consistency or fiscal conservatism.

And as the minutes wore on, things got much more personal.

Here are the comments (so far) that really stick out – and will seemingly be hard to move past.

Musk really went there, accusing the Trump administration of withholding information about disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein because it invokes Trump himself.

“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk wrote on X. “Have a nice day, DJT!”

He later added: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

Musk did not detail how he would have gained access to unreleased files. And the inclusion of a person’s name in files related to the case does not by itself indicate they have been accused of any wrongdoing.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Musk’s claim “an unfortunate episode.”

“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. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” she said in a statement to CNN.

Trump’s proximity to Epstein in the past is not exactly news; he’s been photographed with Epstein. But Musk’s allegation – made without providing any evidence of where it came from – feeds into concern in some right-wing circles about the lack of transparency about Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

After Trump talked during the campaign about potentially releasing more government files about Epstein, Attorney General Pam Bondi released an initial tranche of files in February that largely duplicated information that had already been made public.

Exactly what Musk is getting at isn’t clear or substantiated. But it’s really going nuclear, given the subject matter.

The most sacred of topics in Trump’s eyes: his election wins.

Trump claimed he would have won the crucial state of Pennsylvania even without Musk’s help. But Musk, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars and campaigned for Trump, shot back that he was in fact the reason Trump won the presidency.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said.

Musk then added in another post: “Such ingratitude.”

There are few topics Trump takes as seriously as his reputation as a winner. He often talks about how his endorsements help Republicans and has endlessly exaggerated the size of his electoral victories and mandate.

It’s clearly a point of emphasis, and Musk just went there.

Video Ad Feedback

'It surprised me': Speaker Johnson reacts to Musk's comments

02:07 - Source: CNN

'It surprised me': Speaker Johnson reacts to Musk's comments

02:07

Trump, like other Republicans in recent days, suggested Musk’s criticism of his “Big Beautiful Bill” wasn’t really about excessive spending – as Musk has said it is – but instead about one of his personal businesses, Tesla.

“Elon’s upset because we took the [electric vehicle] mandate and – you know, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

“He only developed a problem when he found out I would cut the EV mandate,” Trump added.

Trump later posted on Truth Social that Musk “went CRAZY” over the EV changes.

Musk sought to call Trump’s bluff, encouraging lawmakers to keep the EV subsidies cuts but trim spending.

“Whatever,” Musk said. “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”

Musk pointed to past comments in which he actually discouraged lawmakers from enacting EV tax credits. He also pointed to a clip in which Trump himself said that Musk had “never asked me for a thing.”

But perhaps most strikingly, Musk promoted a post from the chief GOP critic of the bill in the House, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

“Some politicians get into politics to enrich themselves,” Massie said. “Maybe that’s why they can’t imagine someone would judge a bill based on what’s good for the country instead of what’s good for their wallet.”

That seems a pretty sharp dig at Trump, who has intermingled his personal business with his role as president plenty in his second term.

Video Ad Feedback

Musk blasts Trump’s agenda bill as a ‘disgusting abomination’

01:14 - Source: CNN

Musk blasts Trump’s agenda bill as a ‘disgusting abomination’

01:14

Trump’s comments have, to this point, been largely suggestive about Musk’s motives. But Musk has clearly taken offense.

Despite the White House claiming this week that it had been previously aware of Musk’s opposition to the package, Trump on Thursday claimed that he was in fact surprised.

“I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem.”

“But he knew every aspect of this bill. He knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left.”

Musk responded that Trump’s version of events was “false.”

He wrote that “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 seemed to put to rest any illusions that this somehow isn’t devolving into a power struggle.

Responding to an X user who noted lawmakers are feeling pressured to pick a side, Musk made a case for them picking him.

“Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,” Musk wrote.

In other words: Tread carefully. I have lots of money – and time.

Trump later posted on Truth Social that, if lawmakers wanted to really save money, they should “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”

When a user claimed Trump’s idea would mean effectively abandoning the International Space Station, Musk promoted the post and dared Trump. “Go ahead, make my day,” he wrote on X.

Musk later said he would “begin decommissioning” a key spacecraft.

It remains to be seen where things go from here. Trump often reconciles with allies, even after ugly things are said.

But rarely is the other figure someone as powerful and outspoken as Musk. The power dynamics are usually such that the other party feels pressured to cave to Trump.

Musk suggests he’s ready for that power struggle. If he is, buckle up.

This story has been updated with a statement from the White House.

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Veterans’ protests planned for D-Day latest in nearly 250 years of fighting for their benefits

https://theconversation.com/veterans-protests-planned-for-d-day-latest-in-nearly-250-years-of-fighting-for-their-benefits-255346?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Veterans across the United States will gather on June 6, 2025, to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as the slashing of staff and programs throughout the government. Veteran-led protests will be held at the National Mall, 16 state capitol buildings and over 100 other venues across 43 states.

Veterans are disproportionately affected by federal cuts, in part because they make up only 6.1% of the U.S. population but, because of “veterans preference” in federal hiring, they compose 24% of the 3 million federal workers facing mass layoffs under the Trump administration.

Veterans also depend on comprehensive, free, federally funded health care through VA clinics throughout the country. But that care is deteriorating due to cuts, rule changes and return-to-work policies that make it impossible for many VA workers to effectively provide care.

Looming cuts to the VA may cause an irreversible blow if the VA stops providing comprehensive care to veterans and, instead, pushes veterans into seeing doctors in private practice.

This is not the first time that veterans have engaged in mass mobilization. Veterans groups in the U.S. have successfully mobilized for centuries, crossing traditional political divisions such as race, class and gender. They are powerful messengers, and their actions in the past have helped secure back pay and pensions for veterans, a Social Security and welfare system for U.S. civilians, and foreign policy changes to end wars abroad.

I’m a scholar of law, social movements and veterans benefits. Here’s a brief history of veterans’ campaigns that illustrates how veterans developed their political clout and effectively advocated to protect themselves, and many others, from harmful federal policies.

A middle-aged man in a coat and sitting in a car, is mobbed by smiling men who want to shake his hand. — Veterans are an important political constituency. On Nov. 7, 1932 – the day before Election Day – Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New York governor running for president, visited the veterans hospital at Castle Point, near Beacon, N.Y. Bettman/Getty Images

Fighting for pensions

Veterans were not always politically popular, nor were they treated well by the federal government.

After the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, Gen. George Washington lobbied Congress to offer lifetime half-pay to officers who served until the end of the war. Given the federal government’s financial precariousness at the end of the war, this effort failed. Veterans were unable to successfully mobilize to advocate for the pensions, given their small numbers and internal divisions between more privileged officers and less privileged soldiers.

During the Civil War, Congress passed numerous laws designed to support veterans. The 1862 pension law allocated payouts in proportion to a soldier’s permanent bodily injury or disability caused by their service. The benefits were generous in comparison with prior allocations, and more veterans began applying for them.

Yet, by 1875 only 6.5% of veterans had signed up for pensions. Veterans began to organize to increase awareness about these benefits and to lobby for more.

The Grand Army of the Republic became a leading veterans organization that demanded better pension and disability benefits. At the end of the 1800s, earning veterans’ votes became a priority for aspiring politicians. The Grand Army of the Republic directly lobbied Congress to pass bills expanding veterans pensions, one of which Democratic President Grover Cleveland vetoed in 1887.

The organization then successfully mobilized its members to vote against Cleveland in the 1888 election, securing victory for presidential candidate William Henry Harrison and for Republicans in both houses of Congress. This secured the 1890 Arrears Act, which expanded veterans’ pensions and disability payments.

By the turn of the 19th century, over 40% of federal expenditures went to veterans.

Getting back pay

As more veterans returned in 1898 from fighting in the Spanish-American War, and with a huge influx of veterans 20 years later from World War I, veterans mobilized to streamline and expand pension and disability benefits.

In the 1920s, the two most prominent veterans organizations, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW, formed a national legislative committee dedicated to lobbying for improved benefits. Each group boasted thousands of members whom they could call on to “barrage”– a veterans term – congressmen with letters. By 1929, even as the federal budget ballooned, veterans benefits still represented 20% of the total federal budget.

The 1924 “Bonus Act,” which Congress passed after overruling Calvin Coolidge’s presidential veto, offered WWI veterans a deferred “bonus” payment available in 1945. But veterans suffered immensely in the Great Depression, along with the rest of the country.

Veterans tried a new campaign tactic in 1932, creating the “Bonus Expeditionary Forces,” or “Bonus Army,” march on Washington, D.C., to demand their promised pay be delivered sooner.

Over the course of three months, from May through July 1932, 40,000 veterans set up encampments throughout the city. During their stay, they crowded congressional galleries and plazas during debates on the bill. When President Herbert Hoover called on the military to disband the encampments, he set himself up for electoral defeat later that year.

It took another four years for Congress to pass a law offering an immediate payout, but the veterans got their bonuses in 1936, not 1945.

Campaigning to prevent cuts

Building from public support bolstered by the Bonus Army march, veterans fought publicly to protect their benefits in the Great Depression.

In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sought to cut veterans’ benefits to help finance other relief programs during the Depression, but veterans successfully lobbied Congress to rescind the cuts.

A 1933 VFW encampment in Milwaukee attracted 10,000 veterans who openly decried Roosevelt’s economic policies. The event featured left-wing Louisiana populist Sen. Huey P. Long and former Marine turned anti-Wall Street populist Smedley Butler.

The U.S. entered World War II in December 1941. To avoid another spectacle, FDR began developing a compensation program for World War II veterans even before the war’s end. During debates about these expenditures, veterans activism helped ensure the generous educational, housing and vocational benefits from the so-called GI Bill developed by FDR, and the soldier vote helped secure FDR’s fourth-term election in 1944.

Scholars credit the GI Bill with creating a booming U.S. economy from the 1950s through the 1970s and creating the contemporary middle class, an economic and social group now shrinking and under threat.

Beyond benefits

A group of men, some in wheelchairs, marching in the night along a street. — Vietnam veterans hold a silent march down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House on April 22, 1971, to protest the Vietnam War. Bettman/Getty Images

After World War II, veterans’ mobilization expanded from a focus on benefits to foreign policy.

Most famously, after its founding in 1967, Vietnam Veterans Against the War engaged in street theater and gathered testimonies about U.S. military abuses to condemn the U.S. government for violence against the Vietnamese.

Vietnam Veterans Against the War helped organized a four-day protest in 1971 in Washington, D.C., including camping on the National Mall. The organization continued to mobilize in more traditional ways, drafting congressional legislation for benefits and promoting investment in psychological support for Vietnam veterans.

Veterans have continued to protest wars, particularly the Iraq War, engaging in street protests and also through mainstream politics such as elections and television advertising.

Given their experiences, veterans today know what they are standing up for on June 6: their own freedom and prosperity, as well as the country’s and the world’s.