The White House is signaling that President Donald Trump intends to move on from his acrimonious fallout with billionaire Elon Musk, focusing on securing passage of his signature tax and spending bill and other economic policies.
After Thursday’s blow-up, in which Trump and Musk traded threats of cutting government contracts and ending spaceflight programs, the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer indicated a willingness to defuse tensions, suggesting an eagerness for an off-ramp for a clash that risks costing his companies deeply.
One day after Politico reported White House staff were working on arranging a call with Musk, a senior White House official said no call is in the works. Trump does not intend to speak to Musk Friday, the official said, suggesting the proposal came from Musk.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a sign the break-up between two of the world’s most powerful people will likely stick, however, the official said the president is considering getting rid of a Tesla vehicle he obtained during a South Lawn event — a once prominent symbol of the political alliance between the billionaire and the U.S. president.
Trump and Musk’s relationship, which saw the tech entrepreneur help bankroll his 2024 presidential election win and assume a role heading a government cost-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency, imploded in public view on Thursday.
The two traded personal barbs on their respective social media platforms, escalating the feud with each jab, with Trump threatening government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies and Musk responding that he would cancel a critical space program.
The tit-for-tat fight captivated Washington and Wall Street with Musk losing $34 billion and Tesla stock plummeting 14% on Thursday.
Trump has also not pursued severing Musk’s federal relationships, according to the official, beyond the post on his Truth Social platform Thursday that raised the threat.
While the public watched Trump and Musk’s feud play out in real time on social media, the two have not posted about each other Friday, with the president instead sending a series of messages focused on inflation and the economy.
“AMERICA IS HOT! SIX MONTHS AGO IT WAS COLD AS ICE! BORDER IS CLOSED, PRICES ARE DOWN. WAGES ARE UP!,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social post.
Republican lawmakers have also largely closed ranks behind Trump, whose tax and spending bill Musk has sharply criticized as wasteful. The bill also includes a provision that scales back electric vehicle credits that benefitted Tesla, a move Trump had said made Musk go “CRAZY.”
“I don’t tell my friend Elon, I don’t argue with him about how to build rockets, and I wish he wouldn’t argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview on CNBC Friday.
