President Donald Trump and billionaire oligarch Elon Musk are fighting. Like, fighting fighting. And social media is enjoying the drama in the only way it knows how: By sharing memes.
In case you were somehow in a remote cave without internet access recently, here’s the recap before we get to the chuckles: Musk had a going-away ceremony at the White House last Friday and earlier this week started to get more bold criticizing the budget bill passed by Republicans in the U.S. House. It was weird, but not as weird as it was about to get in just a few short days.
Trump addressed the criticism when he was asked about Musk’s plea to “KILL THE BILL,” during a press conference Thursday morning. But Trump seemed to escalate things into more personal territory after Musk had been pretty good at just criticizing the Republican bill without calling the president names. Trump mocked Musk’s mysterious black eye and said he was “very disappointed” in the billionaire, suggesting that perhaps he now had “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
That set off Musk, who went nuclear on X, saying that Trump was named in the Jeffrey Epstein files and that’s why they haven’t been released by the U.S. Department of Justice. Musk also shared a post about how Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should become president. Trump shot back on Truth Social that maybe he should kill all the subsidies for Musk’s companies and cancel his lucrative government contracts. Musk responded by saying that SpaceX would “begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” before later backing off that threat.
It was quite a thing to watch play out on each man’s respective social media network and it’s not even over yet. Musk owns X, of course, and Trump owns Truth Social, making their dispute odd in a very 21st-century way. Others participated in the debate as well, with Steve Bannon calling for Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act in order to seize SpaceX and deport Musk from the country. Musk wrote that Bannon was a “retard.”
The memes started flowing immediately and they’re still going. There are jokes about Musk being deported, riffs about the billionaire trying to overthrow the federal government, and jokes about JD Vance being caught in the middle of it all. There are also plenty of zingers about Jeffrey Epstein.
Below, we’ve compiled some of our favorite memes we’ve seen circulating. But given the size of the internet, we surely missed some things. If we missed your favorite we’re sure you’ll let us know in the comments.
— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 12:48 PM
— Mike Drucker (@mikedrucker.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Big balls showing up at work tomorrow:
— James (@gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Who gets custody of JD in the divorce?
— Tina Smith (@smith.senate.gov) June 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
🚨BREAKING: Convoy of Cybertrucks filled with Muskites heading for Washington D.C.
— Oliver Alexander (@oalexanderdk.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 10:49 AM
JD Vance crying in the wood paneled rumpus room thinking the divorce is his fault.
— Leeman Kessler (@leemankessler.com) June 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
the thing about “bread and circuses” is that you’re not supposed to double the price of bread and then become the circus
— Janel Comeau 🍁 (@verybadllama.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 12:55 PM
El Salvador’s CECOT prison has just received a new inmate after he was deported from the U.S. for illegally overstaying a student visa in 1995.
— Oliver Alexander (@oalexanderdk.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 2:32 PM
this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they’re both drake
— Anna Hughes 🍁 (@annaghughes.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Jeff Bezos on the phone with his Blue Origin CEO right now: pic.twitter.com/SF74tOMjs2
— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) June 5, 2025
Whatever happens tomorrow, whatever horror the future brings, whatever disaster justifiably curses us all forever, at least we had a pretty funny day today
— Mike Drucker (@mikedrucker.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Trumps new foreign policy by tomorrow morningpic.twitter.com/cKzLkvvAUj
— 🌸sports tweeter Matthias🌸 (tonesetter) (@sportswaatcher) June 5, 2025
Elon you can do this. You have the resources to march on DC with a private army. You’ll be greeted as a liberator
— pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” (@pixelatedboat.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 2:27 PM
