By Jackson Richman and Joseph Lord
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump on Thursday floated the idea of canceling Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s government contracts as a feud between the two over the size of a bill recently passed by the House intensifies.
“The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
The president also indicated in another post that he had asked Musk to leave his position at the Department of Government Efficiency after the two had a policy disagreement related to electric vehicles.
The comments were made as a feud between the two former allies escalates.
Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Trump said that he is “very disappointed” with Musk and is not sure if he will continue to have a great relationship with the Tesla head.
The president’s remarks prompted a public response from Musk on his social media platform X, with Musk saying in one post that Trump would have lost the election without him. Musk was specifically citing his work in Pennsylvania, where he campaigned often in the waning days of the 2024 campaign.
The exchanges mark an escalation of the dispute between Musk and the Trump administration, coming just days after the entrepreneur exited his role as a special government employee. The dispute began after Musk described Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act as a “disgusting abomination.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the House, includes making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, and provisions related to border security and American energy. It is pending before the Senate.
“He was upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles … and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The bill would also end the $7,500 EV tax credit at the end of 2026.
“He had no problem with it. Suddenly he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out we were going to cut the EV mandate,” Trump added.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” the president also said.
Musk responded to Trump’s comments in a string of posts on X.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote in response to a video of Trump’s comments. “Such ingratitude.”
He also shared older posts by Trump, adding his own responses.
“No member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if our country’s budget is not balanced — deficits not allowed!” Trump wrote in July 2012.
Musk replied with an approving emoji.
Musk, who led DOGE — which aims to flag waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government — criticized the legislation.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” he posted on X, which he owns. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”
“I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both,” Musk told CBS News.
During Trump’s comments, Musk posted on X that Republicans should pass a “Slim Beautiful Bill” and therefore “Keep the good, remove the bad.”
Musk has objected to the bill phasing out the clean energy tax credits that were enacted under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
“There is no change to tax incentives for oil and gas, just EV/solar,” he posted on X.
Additionally, the president suggested Musk wasn’t happy about his pulling the nomination of Jared Isaacman for NASA administration.
“[Musk] recommended somebody that, I guess, he knew very well … to run NASA, and I didn’t think it was appropriate. And he happened to be a Democrat, like, totally Democrat. And I said, ‘You know, look, we won, we have certain privileges, and one of the privileges is we don’t have to appoint a Democrat,’” Trump said.
“He wanted that person, a certain person, and we said no,” he added. “And I can understand why he’s upset.”
Trump held a press conference last week with Musk, praising his contributions to the administration by leading DOGE. He also said that Musk would continue to advise the administration outside of the government.
T.J. Muscaro contributed to this report.
