WASHINGTON: Americans considered the consequences Friday of the spectacular split between Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump, who threatened to strip the world’s richest man of his huge government contracts.
Trump and Musk’s unlikely political marriage exploded in a fiery public divorce Thursday.
The president said in a televised Oval Office diatribe that he was “very disappointed” after his former aide and top donor criticized his “big, beautiful” spending bill before Congress.
The pair then hurled insults at each other on social media — with Musk even posting, without proof, that Trump was referenced in government documents on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The row could have major political and economic fall out, as shares in Musk’s Tesla car company plunged and the South African-born tech tycoon vowed that he would end a critical US spaceship program.
But Trump played down the feud during an interview with Politico on Thursday, saying: “Oh it’s okay. It’s going very well, never done better.”
A call with Musk has been scheduled by the White House on Friday in the hope of diffusing the situation, according to the outlet.
Speculation had long swirled that a relationship between the world’s richest person and its most powerful could not last long — but the speed of the meltdown took Washington by surprise.
“I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looked on silently.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”
A hurt-sounding Trump, 78, said it had been only a week since he hosted a grand farewell for Musk as he left the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Trump later insisted he had asked the tycoon to leave because he was “wearing thin.”
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