A reunion of the world's richest man and its most powerful may not be imminent, but at least one of them has expressed his regrets as their relationship lies in ruins.
Elon Musk said on X in the early hours of Wednesday that he “regrets” some of the barbs he posted as he and President Donald Trump traded insults on social media, saying “they went too far.”
Musk didn't elaborate in his 3 a.m. ET message on which posts from last week he regretted.
Musk's public acknowledgment came after Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles spoke with him Friday and urged him to end the quarrel, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
At the height of their online feud — sparked by landmark spending legislation Trump calls the “big, beautiful bill” — Musk said the president wouldn't have won the election without him and accused him of undermining the work of DOGE in cutting billions from federal budgets.
Musk called the bill a “disgusting abomination” that would land the U.S. in unsustainable debt.
Hours after Musk posted about regretting his comments, the New York Post published a taped interview with Trump in which the president said he had “no hard feelings” toward Musk. Asked whether he and Musk could reconcile, Trump said, “I guess I could.”
“I think he feels very badly that he said that, actually,” Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Monday before Musk's early-morning posts.
The president also said he was “not a happy camper” when Musk attacked the Trump-backed reconciliation package.
“I was disappointed in him,” Trump said in the interview. “But it is what it is. It happens. Things like that happen. I don’t blame him for anything. I was a little disappointed.”
When the Post asked Trump a follow-up question Wednesday about Musk's overnight post, the president told the outlet, “I thought it was very nice that he did that.”
Trump on Saturday made clear his disappointment with his former ally, suggesting the U.S. government could cut its lucrative ties with Musk’s businesses and prompting the angry Tesla founder to highlight the president's onetime links with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Musk replied “Yes” to an X user who suggested Trump should be impeached.
In an interview Saturday, Trump told NBC News that there would be unspecified “serious consequences” for Musk were he to financially back any Democratic candidates who oppose the government's sweeping budget bill.
The bill has passed the House, but could be rejected in the Senate, with just four Republican defections needed to defeat it.
Musk had previously been an influential adviser to the Trump administration and a major Republican donor, leading the Department of Government Efficiency in cutting billions from federal budgets and fronting election campaigns.
The pair showered each other with praise and the president even invited Musk to attend Cabinet meetings. Trump marked the official end of Musk's government role with a ceremony in the Oval Office during which he handed the Tesla founder a symbolic golden key.
But as Trump’s priorities shifted to passing his budget bill and Musk wound down his time at the White House to return to his businesses, the relationship soured.
The stakes are high for Musk and his companies, some of which rely on government subsidies. Tesla lost $152 billion in market capitalization in the wake of the spat, its biggest hit ever, but its stock price has since recouped some of those losses.
