- The feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk appears to have caused irreparable damage as the president told NBC News that he has no desire to repair their relationship and assumes it is over. The comments came after Musk appeared to make attempts at de-escalating a feud that exploded in public on Thursday over Trump’s budget bill.
President Donald Trump is seemingly done with Tesla CEO Elon Musk after they engaged in a feud on Thursday that unfolded publicly and escalated stunningly.
In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump was asked if he has any desire to mend his relationship with Musk, and the president replied “no.” And when asked if he thinks his relationship with Musk is over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.”
He added that he has “no intention of speaking” to Musk anytime soon, saying “I’m too busy doing other things” and accusing Musk of disrespecting the presidency.
“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the President,” Trump said.
The comments came after Musk, who once embraced the moniker “first buddy” to Trump, appeared to make attempts at de-escalating their feud. On Saturday, he deleted his X posts about Trump’s association with the infamous Jeffrey Epstein.
On Thursday night, Musk replied to a post from Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman calling for peace between the tech billionaire and Trump, saying “You’re not wrong.”
Also on Thursday, Musk backtracked on a threat to decommission SpaceX Dragon vehicles, which have become workhorse capsules that the Pentagon and NASA rely on to access Earth orbit.
But the damage was already done. Musk had suggested Trump should be impeached, took credit for Trump’s election victory, and said his tariffs would cause a recession later this year. That’s after trashing Trump’s tax and spending bill in the days leading up to their meltdown.
Trump’s signal that Musk is now persona non grata dashes hopes from top Republicans like Vice President JD Vance and House Speakers Mike Johnson who said they hoped the two men would reconcile.
Meanwhile, Trump also warned Musk—who was the top GOP donor last year with nearly $300 million in campaign contributions—against backing Democrats.
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told NBC News, without elaborating. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that.”
For his part, Musk asked X users on Thursday if it’s time to form a new political party “that actually represents the 80% in the middle,” drawing support from 80% of respondents.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
