Elon Musk has taken to X to express regret over his war of words with President Donald Trump, backing down after less than a week and conceding that \u201csome\u201d of his posts attacking the commander-in-chief \u201cwent too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far,\u201d the world\u2019s richest man wrote on the social media platform he owns in the early hours of Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
The apology comes six days after Trump said he was \u201cvery disappointed\u201d in his former special adviser and campaign donor for criticizing the \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill\u201d he is attempting to push through the Senate, prompting Musk to lash out with a series of highly personal attacks against the president, who responded in kind on his own platform Truth Social.<\/p>\n
On the same day that Musk appeared to extend an olive branch, Trump said in a pre-recorded podcast interview that reconciliation between the pair was possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I have no hard feelings,\u201d Trump said in the interview recorded on Monday. \u201cI was really surprised that that happened. He went after a bill that\u2019s phenomenal. \u2026He just \u2014 I think he feels very badly that he said that, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elon Musk and Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30 2025 (AP)Musk\u2019s 130-day tenure leading the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a government employee came to an end on May 30. Still, just days later, the billionaire began trashing Trump\u2019s signature tax and spending package, warning it would greatly increase the national debt and calling it a \u201cdisgusting abomination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but I just can\u2019t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cShame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musk followed that up a day later with a fresh appeal to \u201cKILL the BILL\u201d, imploring his millions of followers to contact their representatives and senators to remind them that \u201cbankrupting America is NOT ok!\u201d<\/p>\n
The president was reportedly quickly \u201closing patience\u201d with Musk\u2019s intervention behind the scenes and was \u201cconfused\u201d by his animosity, eventually saying as much while hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House on Thursday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,\u201d Trump said in the Oval Office. \u201cHe knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to expressing his disappointment in the Tesla and SpaceX boss, Trump also claimed that he could have won the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania in last year\u2019s presidential election without Musk\u2019s help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,\u201d Musk shot back on X. \u201cSuch ingratitude,\u201d he added in a separate post.<\/p>\n
Musk and Trump posing with a Tesla at the White House on March 11 2025 (Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters)From there, a vicious exchange of barbs commenced on the billionaires\u2019 competing social media platforms, with Trump saying Musk\u2019s company had been \u201cwearing thin\u201d and accusing him of going \u201cCRAZY\u201d on Truth Social, also threatening to take away his lucrative government contracts.<\/p>\n
The latter responded on X by threatening to decommission SpaceX\u2019s Dragon spacecraft, which is used to ferry astronauts to-and-from the International Space Station and, most shockingly, alleging that Trump was mentioned in top secret files held by the government on the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which, he said, was the true reason for their being withheld from the public.<\/p>\n
Musk also posted a picture of Trump and Epstein together, as well as a video of the two New Yorkers chatting at a house party from 1992.<\/p>\n
The following day, West Wing aides indicated that the two men were planning a phone call to clear the air, only for Trump to tell reporters that he had no interest in speaking to the man who had donated at least $288m to his election campaign just months earlier, leaving their once-close relationship in limbo.<\/p>\n
The fallout from the spat saw former Trump aide Steve Bannon call for Musk to be deported and investigated over his alleged drug use, the late-night satirists have a field day, and the internet exploded with speculation and opinion.<\/p>\n
But the situation has since been eclipsed by the eruption of protests in Los Angeles against the president\u2019s illegal immigration crackdown, which has seen activists clash with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the president controversially send in the National Guard to aid local law enforcement officers in maintaining order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elon Musk has taken to X to express regret over his war of words with President Donald Trump, backing down after less than a week and conceding that \u201csome\u201d of his posts attacking the commander-in-chief \u201cwent too far.\u201d \u201cI regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far,\u201d the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n