On January 23, 2026, Musk's swipe at Donald Trump’s newly founded “Board of Peace" took center stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The “Peace vs. Piece” debate is currently at the top of social media trending topics, serving as a clever linguistic jab at the initiative. This comes as the relationship between the two former close allies has been characterized as volatile for months.
“I heard about the formation of the peace summit, and I was like, is that p-i-e-c-e? You know a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela” he said while laughing during his address to the forum.
Musk maintained good relations with Trump during the presidential campaign, becoming the largest single donor with over $230 million in contributions. At the same time, he used his social platform X as a high-reach megaphone to boost Trump’s messages.
However, the alliance devolved into a very public fight in the summer of 2025. Trump hinted at reviewing Musk’s immigration status while simultaneously threatening the federal assistance and government contracts for Musk’s companies.
According to observers, the relationship is more a “fragile truce”- an unstable condition in which both men know they can damage each other politically in the media.
Musk’s Davos pun is more than a tongue in cheek remark; it is a signal consistent with a relationship that may be strategically calm down at times, but it can boil over again at any moment. The moment marks a unique demonstration of power. It shows that despite his former closeness to the government, Musk is not limited to the role of loyal co-player, instead he has become both a contender and a critic simultaneously.