WASHINGTON — President Trump questioned his relationship with Elon Musk on Thursday after the tech mogul attacked the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, indicating their close alliance may be no more.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office before his bilateral sit-down with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“He hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m very disappointed … I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
Musk has been on a three-day social media warpath against the Trump-endorsed, House-passed reconciliation legislation after departing as head of the Department of Government Efficiency on Friday, calling the measure “disgusting” and urging Congress to “kill the bill.”
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk fumed on his platform after Trump broke his silence on the simmering feud.
“Such ingratitude.”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO publicly slammed the GOP proposal for potentially adding trillions to the deficit, and was privately irked by the removal of Biden-era tax credits for electric vehicles, among other grievances.
Trump unloaded on Musk in his remarks, accusing him of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — after departing the White House following just 130 days as a special government employee.
“He’s not the first. People leave my 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, I guess they call it. … The glamor is gone, the whole world is different, and they become hostile,” Trump said of his former ally.
“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill,” the president added. “He never had a problem until right after he left.”
Musk quickly responded to Trump’s cutting words, writing on X: “Whatever.”
“Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,” the world’s richest man added.
“In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.”
The world’s richest man also denied Trump’s claim that he “knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody sitting here,” arguing that “this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”
The Tesla CEO had gone after Trump earlier in the day by using his prior words against him, dredging up years-old tweets.
“Wise words,” Musk wrote in a pinned X post Thursday, pointing to a 2013 tweet in which the future president fumed: “I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!”
The president and GOP leaders have been adamant that a debt limit hike in the package is critical because otherwise, they will have to negotiate with Democrats.
Musk also dug up a 2012 tweet from Trump complaining that members of Congress shouldn’t be eligible for re-election if they don’t address the deficit.
Here is the latest on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s feud
“No member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if our country’s budget is not balanced—deficits not allowed!” Trump said at the time.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Musk said of Trump’s 2012 tweet.
GOP leaders are in the midst of delicate negotiations to get the One Big Beautiful Bill Act across the finish line in a bid to put it on Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July. It needs to clear the Senate and then the House again.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will add $3 trillion to the deficit, when accounting for the impact on interest on the debt.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he and Musk have exchanged multiple texts and calls since the billionaire’s iintial Tuesday tirade against the megabill.
“I know that the EV mandate is very important to him; that is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things as part of the Green New Deal,” Johnsontold reporters about the flap with Musk.
Musk had left the White House on Friday on seemingly good terms, with Trump thanking him and handing him a ceremonial key to the executive mansion.
“I’ll be honest, I think he misses the place,” the president said Thursday. “I think he got out there, and all of a sudden he wasn’t in this beautiful Oval Office.”
“He’s not the first. People leave my 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, I guess they call it. … The glamor is gone, the whole world is different, and they become hostile,” Trump said of his former ally.
