Musk offers stunning olive branch to Trump as bromance disintegrates and threatens to rip MAGA apart

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Elon Musk has made a stunning move to cool things down with President Donald Trump and de-escalate their all-out war of words that threatens to fracture the MAGA coalition.
In a rapid retreat, Musk reversed his threat to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft - a move that only hours earlier had sent NASA and the broader space community into panic mode.
SpaceX Dragon capsules are not just any spacecraft but a critical lifeline transporting American astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. Without them, NASA's already fragile access to orbit would be thrown into chaos.
After a user on X challenged Musk's threat to pull the program suggesting he 'cool off and take a step back for a couple of days', he abruptly posted: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.'
Musk's unexpected olive branch to Trump and backpedaling on Dragon suggests he was looking for an off-ramp before the collision with Trump becomes catastrophic for both men - and for the MAGA movement itself.
Amid the political firestorm, hedge fund titan Bill Ackman also took to X on Thursday evening with a plea for peace between the two men, urging Musk and Trump to reconcile 'for the benefit of our great country.'
Ackman warned that 'we are much stronger together than apart.'
Elon Musk reversed his threat to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft after takoing some advice from an X user
Amid the political firestorm, hedge fund titan Bill Ackman also took to X on Thursday evening with a plea for peace, urging Musk and Trump to reconcile 'for the benefit of our great country.'
Musk's reply was brief, but revealing: 'You're not wrong,' he wrote, signaling his first public crack in the hardened standoff with the president.
Whether Trump will accept the offer of a truce and that any damage in their relationship can be repaired, remains to be seen.
Only hours earlier Musk was calling for Trump's impeachment. It saw Trump retaliate threatening to hit Musk where it hurts and rip away his lucrative multibillion-dollar federal contracts for SpaceX.
Earlier on Thursday evening, Trump faced called to immediately seize control of SpaceX after Musk had threatened to abandon NASA astronauts in orbit amid the bitter fallout between the two.
In an explosive back-and-fourth throughout the afternoon, Trump hit back at Musk's escalating claims by suggesting the entrepreneur's multibillion-dollar government contracts could be taken away.
'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump said on Truth Social.
Musk fired back, with the SpaceX chief saying he would begin 'decommissioning' his company's Dragon spacecraft in response.
The spacecraft is vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to Trump during his first administration and a fierce critic of Elon Musk, quickly weighed in during his 'War Room Live' broadcast.
He urged the president to seize SpaceX from the billionaire entrepreneur and invoke the Defense Production Act - a national security measure dating back to the Korean War era - to seize control of the company.
'The United States government should take possession of it,' Bannon declared.
In practice, seizing SpaceX which is a private company would prove difficult.
While the Defense Production Act gives the president broad powers to prioritize contracts deemed necessary for national defense, expand productive capacity and supply of critical goods and materials and allocate resources like energy, materials, or services, it does not explicitly authorize outright seizure or nationalization of private companies.
Trump could target Musk in other ways, such as targeting his contracts, clearances, and federal partnerships.
SpaceX has various contracts embedded within US national security infrastructure including Pentagon satellites (Starlink military versions), not to mention NASA's Artemis program to return humans to the Moon.
Nevertheless Bannon went further still, suggesting Musk be stripped of his security clearance and that all federal contracts awarded to the billionaire's various enterprises be suspended pending a full-scale investigation.
Bannon then went on to demand Trump initiate deportation proceedings against Musk.
'Elon Musk is here illegally. He's got to go,' Bannon said, despite the fact that Musk, originally from South Africa, has been a naturalized US citizen for more than twenty years.
'They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,' Bannon said in a phone interview Thursday with The New York Times.
Later on his show, Bannon - who has long openly criticized the billionaire - called Musk an 'unstable individual' and a 'national security issue,' pointing to The New York Times report that charted the DOGE leader's drug use.
'President Trump is a bull and Elon is a baby calf,' Bannon also said.
Following the disintegration of Trump and Musk's relationship, the SpaceX CEO posted on X that he had decided to decommission his company's Dragon spacecraft 'immediately.'
The decommissioning of the Dragon capsule would leave NASA without a proven American spacecraft capable of sending and retrieving astronauts from the space station, of which there are currently four onboard.
Bannon suggested Musk be stripped of his security clearance and that all federal contracts awarded to Musk's various enterprises be suspended pending a full-scale investigation
Just two months ago, Musk's Dragon spacecraft came to the rescue of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded on board the ISS for 286 days.
NASA also has a contract with Boeing, who is working on fixing their Starliner spacecraft, but the project has been plagued with problems that have left the craft untrustworthy for carrying humans to space at this time.
The spat between Musk and Trump earlier broke out after the SpaceX boss voiced his opposition to the Republican-led 'big, beautiful bill.'
The budget reconciliation bill will reportedly add trillions to the national deficit, a move that enraged Musk and prompted his departure from the Trump Administration.
Musk had been overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which had reported saving the US tens of billions of dollars on so-called wasteful government projects.
DOGE's goal had been to get that number into the trillions.
Following his departure, a war of words broke out between Musk and the president over social media.
Earlier on Thursday, Musk claimed that Trump is 'in the Epstein files,' dramatically escalating the tensions between the billionaires.
Musk also suggested that Trump should be impeached and replaced with 40-year-old Vice President JD Vance.
Moments before the Epstein charge, Trump had taken to Truth Social and said he had asked Musk to leave his administration and said the billionaire went 'CRAZY!'
The president then found a new way of saving money in the federal budget, posting that he could cut 'Billions and Billions of Dollars' by ending the government's partnership with both of Musk's companies - SpaceX and Tesla.
SpaceX has been awarded over $17 billion in government contracts since 2015, according to ABC News. Much of that money comes from NASA and the Department of Defense.
Tesla has also received approximately $1 billion according to the latest figures from February.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, is a reusable spacecraft designed to transport cargo and astronauts to the ISS.
It consists of a reusable capsule for the astronauts and an expendable trunk module, launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
There have been two main variants of the capsule: the Dragon 1, which only carried cargo and has been retired, and the Dragon 2, which carries astronauts and cargo to space.
A third variant, Dragon XL, has been in development as part of NASA's Lunar Gateway project, but it's not yet operational.
Dragon XL would be capable of carrying cargo to a new base on the moon. It's unknown if the project will be cancelled as part of Musk's declaration to decommission the Dragon capsules.
Musk seemed to make matters worse for himself after agreeing with a posting on X that Trump should be impeached and replaced with 40-year-old Vice President J.D. Vance amid their fiery falling out.
X User Ian Miles Cheong wrote: 'President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.'
'Yes,' Musk responded.
He also predicted that Trump's tariff policy would create economic turmoil.
'The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year,' Musk said.
The impeachment call comes after Musk made the eye-popping claim that the president is 'in the Epstein files'.
The spectacular fallout between Trump and Musk - who were political allies for a little less than a year - started in recent weeks when the billionaire started resisting Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill,' arguing that the spending wiped out DOGE's cost-cutting efforts.
The fractures in their relationship were made plain for all to see.
Whilst Trump was hosting the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office he was asked about Musk's recent criticism. From there, the dam broke.
'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more, I was surprised,' Trump told reporters.
The president suggested that Musk was angry - not over the bill ballooning the deficit - but because the Trump administration has pulled back on electric vehicle mandates, which negatively impacted Tesla, and replaced the Musk-approved nominee to lead NASA, which could hinder SpaceX 's government contracts.
'And you know, Elon's upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles, and they're having a hard time the electric vehicles and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,' Trump said. 'I know that disburbed him.'
Over the weekend, Trump pulled the nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
Isaacman had worked alongside Musk at SpaceX.
'He recommended somebody that I guess he knew very well, I'm sure he respected him, to run NASA and I didn't think it was appropriate and he happened to be a Democrat, like totally Democrat,' Trump continued. 'We won, we get certain privileges and one of the privileges is we don't have to appoint a Democrat.'
Musk posted to X while Trump's Q&A with reporters was ongoing.
'Whatever,' the billionaire wrote.
'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,' he advised.
'In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that [is] both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this!' Musk continued. 'Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.'
The spat quickly turned personal with Musk then posting that Trump would have lost the 2024 election had it not been for the world's richest man - him.
Musk had publicly endorsed Trump on the heels of the July 13th assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania and poured around $290 million of his fortune into the Republican's campaign.
The billionaire also joined Trump on the campaign trail when he returned to the site of the Butler shooting in early October, a month before Election Day.
Trump said in the Oval that he likely still would have won Pennsylvania without Musk's help and because Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris didn't choose the state's governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her running mate.
Even with Shapiro on the ticket, Trump claimed, 'I would have won Pennsylvania, I would have won by a lot.'
Musk said that was laughable.
'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Musk claimed.
'Such ingratitude,' the billionaire added.
The 53-year-old Musk also asserted he had more staying power than the 78-year-old president.
'Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,' Musk said Thursday afternoon, responding to a post from MAGA agitator Laura Loomer.
Loomer said she was reporting from Capitol Hill and that Republican lawmakers were trying to determine if it was better to side with Trump or Musk.
After his meeting with Merz, Trump continued to throw punches online.
Trump asserted that he had asked Musk to leave his administration and said the billionaire went 'CRAZY!'
'Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!' Trump wrote.
The president then threatened to pull SpaceX and Tesla's government contracts.
'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Trump wrote.
Musk then taunted Trump to act.
'This just gets better and better,' he wrote. 'Go ahead, make my day …'
In a follow-up post, Musk said he would 'begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.'
The Dragon is how NASA astronauts currently travel to the International Space Station - and how supplies make it there.
As the fight continued, Tesla shares plummeted.
Anti-semitic rapper Kanye West even got involved.
'Broooos please noooooo. We love you both so much,' West wrote.
And Musk threw the Epstein bomb.
'@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,' Musk wrote. 'Have a nice day, DJT!'
Jeffrey Epstein is a serial child sex offender who died in prison in 2019.
Trump pledged to release the files related to Epstein, with Attorney General Pam Bondi releasing some pages in February, but most of that information was already in the public domain.
'Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out,' Musk added.
Trump didn't directly respond to Musk's Epstein charge, instead posting what amounted to a shrug on Truth Social, while also continuing to back the 'big, beautiful bill.'
'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,' Trump wrote. 'This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress.'
Later he ignored shouted questions from reporters on Musk's Epstein charge as he hosted the National Fraternal Order of Police executive board in the State Dining Room.
Asked for comment, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Mail in a statement: '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.'
'The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,' Leavitt added.
A source familiar pointed out to the Daily Mail that 'everyone knows President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Palm Beach Golf Club.'
'The Administration itself released Epstein files with the President's name included. This is not a new surprise Elon is uncovering. Everyone already knew this,' the source continued.
The source also mused, 'If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hangout with him for 6 months and say he 'loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?''
It was less than a week ago that Trump gave Musk a golden key and a DOGE send-off from the Oval Office.