Roving Periscope: In X-warfare, Musk waves the white flag, says sorry to Trump
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After going hammer and tongs against Donald Trump for several days, Elon Musk on Wednesday said “sorry” to the US President, the media reported.
Trump’s reaction was awaited.
But will they really bury the hatchet for good?
Amid their feud, and Trump’s tense relations with Europe, electric vehicle maker Tesla lost much of its market in Europe and market capitalization by over USD 150 billion, that may have forced Musk to relent.
Only recently, the world’s wealthiest man, who funded over USD 200 million to the Trump team for electioneering in 2024, even urged Vice President JD Vance to step into the US President’s shoes!
More, to the glee of the Democrats and even the Republican dissidents, he hinted at floating “The America Party!”
Enjoying the feud from the sidelines, Russia turned knife in their wounds, offered “peace talks”, and asylum and citizenship to Musk!
However, after firing on all cylinders for some 10 days against the US President, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday waved the white flag. “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter, that he owns), adding, “They went too far.”
On May 29, Musk announced he would be stepping down from his role in the Trump administration after finishing his term as a special government employee. He led the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ever since Trump returned to the White House on January 20.
Their feud started after Musk last week called Trump’s proposed “One Big, Beautiful Bill) a “disgusting abomination.” It quickly spiralled, with the multibillionaire suggesting that the President be impeached and accusing the government of hiding Trump’s ties to the infamous Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.
On June 2, Trump defended his landmark tax proposals, prompting Musk the next day to post a fiery critique of the spending bill. “I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a “disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” he wrote on X.
“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to USD 2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested that the US Congress should write a new bill. “A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn’t massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS,” he said.
On June 5, he asked to “Kill the Bill.” “Call your Senator. Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.”
The same day, in response to Trump saying Musk was upset over EV subsidy cuts, Musk posted, “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”
“In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that is both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this!” “Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.”
Then he dropped the bombshell.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!,” he wrote in an X post, which he later deleted!
Musk even appeared to support Trump’s impeachment.
At the White House, Trump replied, “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will any more. Very disappointed in Elon.”
He also revealed Musk was “aware” of the bill. Musk shot back, “False. This bill was never shown to me, even once, and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress would even read it!”
Then came more jabs. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.”.
“The Big Ugly Bill will INCREASE the deficit to USD 2.5 trillion.”
He even proposed to float a new party. “Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?” he said after conducting a poll among his 220 million followers on X worldwide.
Musk also dug up Trump’s old 2012-13 Tweets, slamming government overspending, calling him out and asking, “Where is this guy today??”
On June 6, Trump fired back on his own social media platform, Truth Social: “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago.”
Musk said, “If this bill passes, we will decommission our Dragon capsules and halt cooperation with NASA’s deep space initiatives,” which he later withdrew.
“Tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.”
In an ABC interview, Trump said, “You mean the man who has lost his mind?” He also warned of “serious consequences” if Musk supports Democrats in 2026, and said he had “no plans to reconcile.” Their likely meeting or a phone call for reconciliation did not materialize.
Later that day, Musk appeared to soften. Replying to billionaire Bill Ackman’s peace offer, he said, “You are not wrong.”
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters, “I just wish him (Musk) well.”
Musk responded to the video with a red heart emoji on X.
And, on Wednesday, he publicly said he regretted “some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week.”
But the last word between them is yet to be heard!
