After an explosive and unprecedented day between President Donald Trump and former head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, tensions seem to have cooled some.
Reporters asked Trump Thursday during a bilateral press conference with the German chancellor about some disparaging remarks Musk had made on X about the Trump-backed ‘One Big Beautiful’ budget bill.
Trump responded by saying that Musk wasn’t supporting the bill because it didn’t include an electric vehicle mandate but then implied the billionaire was simply bitter about no longer being a part of the administration, as his last day as a special government employee heading up the Department of Government Efficiency was Friday.
“He’s not the first. People leave our administration and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly and some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile. I don’t know what it is. It’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome,” Trump said.
A string of similar remarks from the president set off a chain of increasingly volatile X posts from the Tesla founder, including a post where Musk claimed the Epstein files hadn’t been released yet because Trump was in them, followed by a repost echoing the claim that Trump should be impeached.
“President vs Elon. Who wins?” wrote Ian Miles Cheong, a Musk supporter and vocal right-wing Malaysian journalist on X. “My money’s on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.”
Musk simply wrote ‘Yes’ on his repost.
Musk posted or reposted dozens of times on Thursday criticizing the president and what he called the ‘Big Ugly Spending bill.’ Trump posted to social media a handful of times in response, finishing with a statement again defending the budget bill.
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given,” Trump wrote. “If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The two have been silent about each other on social media on Friday.
