(CNN) Over the weekend at a campaign rally in Alaska, Donald Trump called billionaire businessman Elon Musk a "bullshit artist" for saying he never voted for a Republican prior to a recent special election in Texas.
Musk, because he is Musk, responded via Twitter. "I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset," he wrote. "Dems should also call off the attack -- don't make it so that Trump's only way to survive is to regain the Presidency."
It wasn't always this way. In fact, less than two years ago, their relationship seemed to be on much more solid footing.
In January 2020, during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump lavished Musk with praise, calling him "one of our great geniuses."
"You know, we have to protect Thomas Edison, and we have to protect all of these people that came up with originally the light bulb and the wheel and all of these things. And he's one of our very smart people, and we want to cherish those people...I spoke to [Musk] very recently, and he's also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And he does good at rockets, too, by the way. I never saw where the engines come down with no wings, no anything, and they're landing. I said 'I've never seen that before.' "
In May of that year, Trump (and then-Vice President Mike Pence) traveled to Florida to witness a SpaceX launch. (Musk serves as the CEO of the private rocket company.)
Musk, for his part, seemed to undergo something of a conversion when it came to Trump.
Days before the 2016 election, Musk said that Trump was "not the right guy," adding: "He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States."
But following Trump's surprise victory, Musk agreed to become a member of a business advisory group for the President. He left in 2017 following Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accords. "Am departing presidential councils," Musk tweeted in June 2017. "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."
In a conversation with Recode co-founder Kara Swisher in 2018, Musk said he believed "it was worth trying" and that had done his "best" to push for policies to address climate change. "I said you shouldn't go, because he was going to screw you, remember," Swisher told Musk of Trump. "Well, you were right," Musk responded.
The coronavirus pandemic -- and Musk's increasing libertarian tendencies -- seemed to bring him back around toward Trump.
In May 2020, Trump voiced support for Musk's effort to reopen his California Tesla plant. "California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW," Trump tweeted. "It can be done Fast & Safely!" Musk responded "Thank You!" to Trump's tweet.
The two again seemed to bond over their views on Twitter and, in particular, Trump's banning by the social media giant following the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. In May 2022, Musk said at a conference hosted by the Financial Times that "it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country." Musk also said he would reverse Trump's Twitter ban if his deal to acquire the company went through, which is very much in peril at the moment.
Trump's newfound ire also could well have something to do with Musk's professed interest in the potential 2024 candidacy of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In a mid-June tweet thread, Musk said he was leaning toward DeSantis in that race.
The latest negative turn in their relationship speaks to this fundamental fact: Musk and Trump may well be too alike to ever get along. Both view themselves as iconoclasts and rebels. Both revel in creating controversy and attempting to shake up the status quo. And both are hugely divisive figures -- you either love them or hate them.
If past is prologue, Musk and Trump will have a roller-coaster relationship in the coming months and years as both circle each other warily.
This story has been updated with additional information.