President Trump vowed his former friend Elon Musk will face “very serious consequences” should he choose to support the Democratic party following their very public feud.
Trump delivered the warning in an interview with NBC News, during which he also said he had “no intention of speaking to” the tech billionaire any time in the near future, citing the online threats and insults he hurled in recent days.
“I’m too busy doing other things,” Trump said Saturday.
“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful,” he added. “You could not disrespect the office of the President.”
Asked directly whether he believes their relationship to be permanently over, Trump replied: “I would assume so, yeah.”
The world’s richest man backed Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the 2024 election, shelling out nearly $300 million in a bid to land them in the White House. In the months following their win, Musk cemented himself by Trump’s side, appearing at press conferences, parties and public events, while professing his “love” for the president.
But relations ruptured between the pair on Tuesday, when Musk ripped into the Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful” budget bill aimed at enacting much of Trump’s agenda.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on his X social media platform. “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.”
He said the bill would undermine much of his efforts to trim federal spending during his brief period with Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
On Thursday, he then blasted the president and accused him of being an ingrate, saying, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,”
Mere hours later, the SpaceX founder dropped the “really big bomb” when he alleged Trump appeared in the “Epstein files,” referring to a trove of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking crimes, including those who were involved. That post was deleted Friday night.
“That’s called ‘old news,’ that’s been old news, that has been talked about for years,” Trump said Saturday when asked about his reaction to Musk’s allegation. “Even Epstein’s lawyer said I had nothing to do with it. It’s old news.”
The president also fired back in a series of press appearances and social media posts. He threatened to not only terminate Musk’s government contracts, but to get rid of his Tesla as well. Sources told NBC News the electronic vehicle is still parked outside of the White House.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to federal contracts with SpaceX. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
As for his budget bill, Trump believes his feud with Musk has actually been positive, telling NBC the Tesla CEO helped bring it to the public’s attention.
“I think, actually, Elon brought out the strengths of the bill because people that weren’t as focused started focusing on it, and they see how good it is,” Trump said. “So in that sense, there was a big favor. But I think Elon, really, I think it’s a shame that he’s so depressed and so heartbroken.”
