After nearly a week of mudslinging and online sparring, Elon Musk has backtracked on his attacks against Donald Trump, softening his stance on the United States president, hinting at a possible truce and reconciliation between the two. In a post on X, Elon Musk admitted that some of his remarks about Donald Trump “went too far.”
“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” Elon Musk said.
The SpaceX founder served 130 days as a “special government employee” at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a mandate to eliminate what he characterised as bloated government programmes.
Days after bowing out of his role as one of Donald Trump’s closest advisors and special government employee in the federal government, Elon Musk hammered the tax cuts and spending mega-bill as a “disgusting abomination.”
This marked the beginning of a week-long feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
‘Tax cuts bills is disgusting abomination’
In a post on X, Elon Musk said, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
A day later, Elon Musk further criticised the spending bill, saying a new one should be drafted. “No one who actually reads the bill should be able to stomach it,” he wrote on X.
In response, a White House official said the federal government “will not consult every policy decision with Elon Musk.”
Musk’s tirade continues: ‘KILL the BILL’
Determined to get the bill abolished, Elon Musk went on a tirade against it with calls to ‘kill the bill’.
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL,” he said.
In another post shared on X, Elon Musk stated, “This spending bill contains the largest increase in the debt ceiling in US history! It is the Debt Slavery Bill.”
Trump responds…
In his first response to Elon Musk’s attacks, Donald Trump said the bill is “incredible” and said “don’t know if he and Musk will have a great relationship anymore”.
He blamed Musk’s reaction on the decision to eliminate consumer tax credits for electric vehicles. “Elon Musk is upset because we took away the EV mandate,” he said. Donald Trump also thought withdrawing a nominee to lead the NASA space agency whom the tech tycoon had backed was also one of the reasons, he thought, Musk was upset about.
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore. I was surprised,” Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here… All of a sudden, he had a problem. You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk, and even with the black eye. I said, you want a little makeup? We’ll get you a little makeup.”
He also said that the Republicans would have won Pennsylvania without Elon Musk.
Musk hits back: ‘Such ingratitude’
Hitting back at Donald Trump over his Pennsylvania remarks, Elon Musk said, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”
All this while, Tesla Inc.’s shares sank.
Trump threatens Musk’s govt contracts
US President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that he may terminate U.S. government contracts and subsidies given to Elon Musk’s companies, as the public feud between the two men escalates over a tax and spending bill.
Responding to this, Elon Musk said as Donald Trump mentioned cancelling his government contracts, “SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately” before taking a U-turn.
He also responded “yes” to a post on X calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment. Elon Musk also said in a post that Donald Trump’s tariffs will result in recession in second half of the year.
Amid a spiralling feud with Donald Trump, Elon Musk claimed that Trump ‘s name is mentioned “in the Epstein files” and added that it is the “real reason they have not been made public.”
“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT.”
“Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
This came from the same Elon Musk who was seen jumping around the stage during Donald Trump’s rallies during Presidential elections in an apparent show of his support for the Republican leader.
But he also deleted this post later.
After the explosive remark insinuating that Trump was withholding the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein because of his own presence in them, Elon Musk signaled he would move to cool tensions with the US President.
But Donald Trump was in no mood to reconcile.
A White House source recently claimed that Donald Trump was not interested in talking to Elon Musk.
Cut to June 10, Elon Musk Elon Musk appears to be making a serious effort to get back in Donald Trump’s good graces. He recently dropped a heart emoji on a video of Trump saying, “I wish him [Elon Musk] well.” A day later, Elon Musk said he regrets some of the things he said about Trump.
