NEW JERSEY: Donald Trump said on Saturday (Jun 7) his relationship with his billionaire donor Elon Musk is over and warned there would be “serious consequences” if Musk funds US Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the president’s sweeping tax and spending Bill.
In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to say what those consequences would be, and went on to add that he had not had discussions about whether to investigate Musk.
Asked if he thought his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.”
“No,” Trump told NBC when asked if he had any desire to repair his relationship with Musk.
“I have no intention of speaking to him,” Trump said.
However, Trump said he had not thought about terminating US government contracts with Musk’s StarLink satellite internet or SpaceX rocket launch companies.
Musk and Trump began exchanging insults this week, as Musk denounced Trump’s Bill as a “disgusting abomination”. Musk’s opposition to the measure complicated efforts to pass the legislation in Congress, where Republicans hold only slim majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate.
The Bill narrowly passed the House last month and is now before the Senate, where Trump’s fellow Republicans are considering making changes. Nonpartisan analysts estimate the measure would add US$2.4 trillion to the US$36.2 trillion US debt over 10 years, which worries many lawmakers, including some Republicans who are fiscal hawks.
Musk also declared it was time for a new political party in the United States “to represent the 80% in the middle!”
Trump said on Saturday he is confident the Bill would get passed by the US Jul 4 Independence Day holiday.
“In fact, yeah, people that were, were going to vote for it are now enthusiastically going to vote for it, and we expect it to pass,” Trump told NBC.
Republicans have strongly backed Trump’s initiatives since he began his second term as president on Jan 20. While some Republican lawmakers have made comments to the news media expressing concern about some of Trump’s choices, they have yet to vote down any of his policies or nominations.
DELETED MUSK POSTS
Musk has deleted some social media posts critical of Trump, including one that signalled support for impeaching the president, appearing to seek a de-escalation of their public feud, which exploded on Thursday. During his first term as president, the House, then controlled by Democrats, twice voted to impeach Trump but the Senate both times acquitted him.
The White House and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday on the deleted posts. People who have spoken to Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they thought he would want to repair his relationship with Trump.
One of the X posts that Musk appeared to have deleted was a response to another user posting: “President vs Elon. Who wins? My money’s on Elon. Trump should be impeached and (Vice President) JD Vance should replace him.” Musk had written “yes”.
