Trump claims his relationship with Musk is over

US President Donald Trump stated that his relationship with Elon Musk is over, the BBC reported last night.

"I guess that's the case, yes," Trump told NBC News when asked if he thought the close relationship between the two was over. He answered "no" when asked if he wanted to mend the damaged ties.

These comments were Trump's latest since the conflict between him and Musk unfolded on social media.

This came after the tech billionaire, who donated millions to Trump's election campaign and became a White House advisor, publicly criticized the president's tax and spending bill, a key domestic policy.
Most Republicans stood behind the president.

Vice President JD Vance said Musk "has become so nuclear" and may never return to the fold. Vance told podcaster Theo Von that it was a "big mistake" for the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX to attack the president.
For weeks, Musk criticized Trump's signature bill, dubbed the "Great Beautiful Bill," as it passed through Congress.

He said that if passed, the bill would add trillions of dollars to the national deficit and "undermine" the work he was doing as head of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, and his efforts to reduce government spending.

Shortly after leaving DOGE after 129 days on the job, Musk posted on his social media X that the bill was an "abhorrent abomination," but did not directly criticize Trump.

However, on Thursday, Trump told reporters that he was "disappointed" by Musk's behavior.

Musk responded with a series of posts on X, saying Trump would lose the election without him and accusing Trump of being involved in the files of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in prison awaiting charges of sex trafficking.

He has since deleted the post, and Epstein's lawyer has denied the allegations.
Trump responded on his social media Truth Social, saying Musk had "gone crazy." In one post, he threatened to terminate Musk's contracts with the federal government.

In an interview with NBC News, Trump said Musk was "disrespectful to the office of the presidency."

"I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You can't disrespect the office of the presidency," Trump said.

Musk, the world's richest man, who donated approximately $250 million to Trump's presidential campaign, hinted during the social media spat that he might support some of Trump's opponents in next year's midterms, endorsing opponents of lawmakers who supported Trump's tax bill.

When asked about the possibility of Musk supporting Democratic candidates running against Republicans, Trump said they would face "serious consequences."