Trump says he would consider deporting Elon Musk
Speaking on the White House lawn before visiting Florida for the opening of a new migrant centre, Mr Trump said he could consider deporting Mr Musk, the South African born billionaire.
'I don't know, we'll have to take a look,' Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump said he believed Mr Musk's criticism of his so-called Big Beautiful Bill was due to measures that cut subsidies and support for electric vehicles.
'He's losing his EV mandate. He's very upset about things, but you know, he could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Elon can lose a lot more than that,' he said.
Mr Trump then said the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which Mr Musk led before stepping down in May, may be turned on the companies he runs – Tesla and SpaceX – which receive government subsidies.
'We might have to put Doge on Elon,' Mr Trump said. 'Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.'
Mr Musk shot back on X: 'So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.'
Mr Trump put Mr Musk in charge of Doge and tasked him with cutting government spending.
The billionaire enlisted the help of 'tech bros' who put a chainsaw to thousands of government projects and jobs.
Mr Musk, the world's richest man, was Mr Trump's largest donor in the election last year.
Early in the administration, he was constantly at the White House at Mr Trump's side.
But they had a public and acrimonious fallout last month – much of it playing out over social media – over Mr Trump's tax and spending bill.
On Monday, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that 'without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa'.
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