Not long after Elon Musk continued to criticize President Trump on social media, the head of state threatened to revoke government contracts with the billionaire.
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The initial exchange of words began after President Trump spoke out about Musk, referring to his “Big Beautiful Bill” as an “abomination.”
“I’ve always liked Elon,” Trump stated in the Oval Office during his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The world leader then said that he was “disappointed” with the Tesla founder for his remarks.
“Elon’s upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles, and they’re having a hard time with electric vehicles, and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,” Trump said while explaining what caused the rift. “Elon knew this from the beginning.”
Trump further stated that while he and Elon had a great relationship, he is unsure if they still do.
Hearing what President Trump said in the Oval Office, Elon Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his thoughts about the situation.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk claimed. The billionaire was a key supporter of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and donated nearly $300 million to it as well as to other Republicans. “Such ingratitude.”
Musk went on to predict that Trump’s tariffs would cause a recession in the second half of this year.
Trump responded by writing on his Truth Social account, “The easiest way to save money in our budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Government Subsidies and Contracts.”
Hours later, Musk wrote in a since-deleted X post that SpaceX would “begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”
He later pivoted to, “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon,” in response to an X user telling him to “cool off and take a step back.”
President Trump Warns Elon Musk Could Face ‘Serious Consequences’ If He Backs Democratic Candidates
Although Elon Musk has deleted some of the posts against President Trump, the world leader warned that the billionaire could face “serious consequences” if he backs Democratic candidates in the 2026 elections.
Days after the back-and-forth social media spat began, Trump told NBC News he “assumed” the relationship with Musk is over.
“I’m too busy doing other things,” he explained. “You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration.”
Trump then stated that he has “no intention” of speaking with Musk. He accused the billionaire of being “disrespectful” to the office of the president.
“I think it’s a very bad thing,” he pointed out. “Because he’s very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the president.”
Trump also warned Musk that if he were to back any Democrats in the upcoming elections.
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” he said. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that.”
However, President Trump did not disclose what “consequences” Musk would face.