On Thursday, the world’s most successful tech tycoon worth nearly $400 billion backed a call for Republicans to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump and replace him with a more agreeable choice for Silicon Valley, vice-president JD Vance. 

Although 77 million Americans voted for Trump, the only reason in Musk’s mind that Trump even sits behind the Resolute Desk is because the Tesla CEO put him there.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” the Tesla CEO said. 

Wedbush Securities tech analyst and Tesla perma-bull Dan Ives warned investors that they have no other choice but to lean back and gorge on junk food as they get front-row seats to what many experts predicted would be an inevitable fallout.

“Get the popcorn out,” Ives told CNBC, “I don’t think we’re done here.” 

Feud a ‘major fear’ for Tesla shareholders

Ives feared Musk’s response to go ballistic on the most powerful man in the world would threaten prospects for a favorable regulator

“The quickly deteriorating friendship and now ‘major beef’ between Musk and Trump is jaw-dropping and a shock to the market,” Ives warned in a research note on Thursday, adding it is “putting major fear for Tesla investors on what is ahead.”

Later, however, Ives tempered his views somewhat as Politico reported White House aides reached out to Musk to mend fences.

The feud doesn’t help Trump’s chances of passing his “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that Musk branded a “disgusting abomination”.

With a razor-thin Republican majority in the upper house, the president can only afford three defections, and Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson have already signaled their opposition.

“Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk for many reasons, and these two becoming friends again will be a huge relief for Tesla shares,” Ives then wrote on Friday, calling the stock oversold.

Musk not one to forgive and forget

While it’s indisputable that both men can inflict substantial damage on the other, it’s not in Musk’s nature to easily forgive and forget. Just the opposite, in fact. 

First off, when Musk makes a strategic decision, he goes “all in” and commits fully to his new direction.

Take his hard pivot to AI and robotics last year, for example.

No longer does he plan to sell 20 million EVs annually by the end of the decade. Instead, a prototype humanoid robot is the next killer product after the Model Y.

He adopted the same approach with politics.

In March 2024, he swore off donating any money to either candidate—roughly half a year later, he ended up giving nearly $300 million to Trump and running his outreach campaign in all battleground states.  

‘I try not to start fights, but I do finish them’

Secondly, Musk is well known for nursing a grudge.

Biographer Walter Isaacson, who shadowed the entrepreneur for two years, recounted the time that a “ruthless” Musk hatched a meticulous plan to cheat outgoing Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal out of his severance.

Later the new owner refused to pay the company’s law firm that successfully sued him to honor his $44 billion contract. 

Politically, Isaacson says Musk’s split with the Democrats can be traced to being snubbed by Biden for an invitation to an EV summit in the White House.

The fact that the previous administration later introduced a federal tax credit that proved very lucrative to Tesla could no longer change Musk’s opinion.

“I try not to start fights,” he once said about his bitter feud with the Democrats, “but I do finish them.”

Time for Tesla investors, then, to stock up on popcorn while they still can.