Trump gives telling update on his relationship with former 'First Buddy' Musk after billionaire reignited feud
President Donald Trump and his former First Buddy Elon Musk have hardly spoken since their spectacular falling out over the Big Beautiful Bill.
Trump revealed he's had little contact with the world's richest man since he departed the administration earlier this month and tried to blow up Trump's landmark bill on his way out the door.
'I haven't spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy,' Trump answered diplomatically when asked about their relationship on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures.
Trump's remarks came just a day after Musk reignited the feud on Saturda y by again weighing in on Trump's $2.8trillion spending bill.
'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,' Musk wrote. 'Utterly insane and destructive.'
But Trump didn't acknowledge the latest comments on Sunday, instead opting to offer muted praise for his former ally.
'He's a smart guy,' Trump said. 'I know he's going to do well always. He actually campaigned with me... in the end he got upset and that just wasn't appropriate.'
Musk launched an extraordinary attack on Trump and his bill via X after his work with DOGE dried up.
The billionaire SpaceX founder accused Trump of being 'in the Epstein files', and said Trump could not have won the 2024 presidential election without him.
But Trump has repeatedly suggested Musk was more upset with his decision to roll back a Biden-era electric vehicle mandate which would have encouraged an uptick in Tesla purchases.
'The EV mandate is a tough thing for him,' Trump said of Musk on Sunday. 'I don't want everybody to have to have an electric car.
'I campaigned on choice - gasoline, hybrid. I love the electric cars, I think it's fantastic, but not everybody wants that.'
Musk had spent the start of the year slashing the federal government's programs through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but saw the $150 billion he claimed to have saved wiped out by the spending increases in Trump's bill.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Mail at the time: 'This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.'
Trump's sweeping Big Beautiful Bill encapsulates much of his domestic agenda, covering everything from tax breaks and immigration to national defense and energy.
Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts.
Earlier this month, Musk's opposition to the legislation saw his time in Trump's White House come to an acrimonious end as he tore into the president
The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new tax breaks that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year.
It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount.
The bill would also fund the hiring of 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and would provide Homeland Security with a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions.
For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system.
The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security.
To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others.
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