As President Donald Trump works through the seven stages of grief that come with a big breakup, he’s embracing anger—and directing it at his former ally Elon Musk.
After two days of snapping at each other online in an embarrassingly public feud that pitted two of the world’s most powerful men against each other, Trump decided to turn up the heat Saturday. Speaking with NBC News’ Kristen Welker, he promised “serious consequences” if Tesla billionaire Musk were to fund Democratic candidates in attempts to sabotage Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
The threat came after Musk begged Congress to vote down the legislation, which is estimated to add some $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit, calling it “ugly” and “pork filled.”
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“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences.”
Musk, the world’s richest man, claimed Thursday that he was the reason for Trump’s re-election, having donating $288 million to his presidential campaign. He called the president out for “such ingratitude.”
The intense clash escalated so much that the former “First Buddy” dropped a bombshell alleging that Trump “is in the Epstein files.” He has since scrubbed the post from his page, although it originally told readers: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
(Trump dismissed the allegations about his connection with the late Jeffrey Epstein. “That’s called ‘old news,’ that’s been old news, that has been talked about for years,” Trump said on Saturday. “Even Epstein’s lawyer said I had nothing to do with it. It’s old news.”)
But while Musk’s move to delete the post could be a sign that he’d consider backing off, Trump has decided instead to launch a new assault.
Trump told NBC that he had no desire to repair his relationship with Musk. “I’m too busy doing other things,” he said, adding, “I have no intention of speaking to him.”
And when asked if the four-month bromance was completely over, a sullen Trump said: “I would assume so, yeah.”
Trump had previously suggested that his once-close adviser had developed “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“I’m very disappointed with Elon. I’ve helped him a lot,” he said at the time. “He knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody sitting here. He had no problem with it.”
On Saturday Trump told NBC that Musk was “disrespectful to the office of the president.”
“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the president,” he added.
Trump’s ominous suggestion of “serious consequences” isn’t the first threat he’s launched against Musk. On Thursday he warned that he was contemplating cutting the SpaceX CEO’s government contracts.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” he posted on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
On Saturday, he said that the move was still on the table: “I’d be allowed to do that,” he said, “but I have, I haven’t given it any thought.”
Trump also suggested that it was Musk who was reeling from the toxic breakup. “I think Elon, really, I think it’s a shame that he’s so depressed and so heartbroken,” he said.
