Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences' if he backs Democratic candidates
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, from left, Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend a campaign event, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — U.S. President Donald Trump is not backing off his battle with Elon Musk, saying Saturday that he has no desire to repair their relationship and warning that his former ally and campaign benefactor could face 'serious consequences' if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections.
Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he has no plans to make up with Musk. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is over, Trump responded, 'I would assume so, yeah.'
'I'm too busy doing other things,' Trump continued. 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him.'
The U.S. president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.
'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts.
The president's latest comments suggest Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies. As a major government contractor, Musk's businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution.
The dramatic rupture between the president and the world's richest man began Thursday, with Musk's public criticism of Trump's 'big beautiful bill' pending on Capitol Hill. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination.' Trump and Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and GOP congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, in an interview Friday, tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Trump, but tried to downplay it as an 'emotional guy' getting frustrated.
'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Vance said.
Other Republicans in recent days urged the two men to mend fences.
Musk's torrent of social media posts attacking Trump came as the president portrayed him as disgruntled and 'CRAZY' and threatened to cut the government contracts held by his businesses.
Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, lambasted Trump's centerpiece tax cuts and spending bill but also suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
'Look, it happens to everybody,' Vance said in the interview. 'I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.'
Vance made the comments in an interview with " manosphere" comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the U.S. Navy when he opened for Trump at a military base in Qatar.
The vice president told Von that as Musk for days was calling on social media for Congress to kill Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' the president was 'getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained because the president doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk.'
'I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine,' he added.
Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein.
The interview was taped Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns.
During the interview, Von showed the vice president Musk's claim that Trump's administration hasn't released all the records related to Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them.
Vance responded to that, saying, 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.'
'This stuff is just not helpful,' Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance.
'It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job.'
Vance called Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur,' and said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good.'
The vice president also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.
The bill would slash spending but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by US$2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
'It's a good bill,' Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.'
He also said it was ridiculous for some House Republicans who voted for the bill but later found parts objectionable to claim they hadn't had time to read it.
Vance said the text had been available for weeks and said, 'the idea that people haven't had an opportunity to actually read it is ridiculous.'
Elsewhere in the interview, Vance laughed as Von cracked jokes about famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass' sexuality.
'We're gonna talk to the Smithsonian about putting up an exhibit on that,' Vance joked. 'And Theo Von, you can be the narrator for this new understanding of the history of Frederick Douglass.'
The podcaster also asked the vice president if he 'got high' on election night to celebrate Trump's victory.
Vance laughed and joked that he wouldn't admit it if he did.
'I did not get high,' he then said. 'I did have a fair amount to drink that night.'
The interview was taped in Nashville at a restaurant owned by musician Kid Rock, a Trump ally.
Article by Michelle L. Price and Bill Barrow.
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