(Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The truce didn't last long. President Trump and Elon Musk have reignited their feud, with the president threatening to pull SpaceX's federal funding.
The clash erupted after Musk once again slammed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" as an "insane spending bill." Trump responded by threatening to unleash the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on the billionaire's own businesses.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday night. "No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.”
This morning, as Trump left to visit a new ICE detention center in Florida, he was asked about possibly deporting Musk to his home country of South Africa. (Musk became a US citizen in 2002.) "I don’t know. I think we’ll have to take a look," Trump said.
“We might have to put DOGE on Elon,” Trump then added. “You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies."
Trump argued that Musk is "very upset" that he revoked former President Biden's 2021 executive order setting targets for EVs and emissions standards (which Trump erroneously refers to as an "EV mandate") and wants to kill the EV tax credit.
"Not everybody wants an electric car. I don’t want an electric car. I want to have maybe gasoline. Maybe electric. Maybe a hybrid," Trump said. (Prior their split, Trump hosted Musk at the White House where he made a show of buying two Teslas.)
Trump’s threats and personal barbs threaten to deepen the rift with Musk, who poured over $290 million into the last election. But for now, Musk wrote in a tweet: “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.”
Musk might be holding his tongue because billions are at stake for SpaceX, which receives federal funding from NASA and the US Defense Department for rocket launches and satellite services from its Starlink business. The Washington Post estimates SpaceX has received over $22 billion from both government agencies since 2003. Hence, any cuts to SpaceX might also imperil the US's own space ambitions.
As for Tesla, the company has earned an estimated $11.4 billion in regulatory credits from federal and state programs focused on promoting the EV industry, according to the Post. Trump’s proposed budget bill, currently making its way through the Senate, could end the federal tax credit and add new fees for electric cars, depending on what Congress approves.
Musk says his opposition to the budget bill has nothing to do with EV subsidies; he's concerned it will bankrupt the US by adding trillions to the federal debt. “And how are we supposed to reach Mars if America goes de facto bankrupt?” Musk wrote in another tweet.
Musk is again threatening to start a third political party if Trump’s spending bill passes. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,” he tweeted on Monday.
On the same day, Musk says he will go after any US lawmakers who backs the spending bill. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote.