Elon Musk has expressed regret over a series of social media posts targeting former US President Donald Trump, describing them as having “gone too far”.
Posting on his platform, X, the billionaire tech mogul wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far.”
The apology follows a public row between the two men, triggered after Musk called Trump’s proposed tax bill a “disgusting abomination”. The budget, which includes sweeping tax cuts and increased defence spending, passed the House of Representatives last month and is currently being reviewed by the Senate.
Musk urged Americans to contact their representatives in a bid to “kill the bill”, warning it could trigger a recession in the second half of the year.
The situation escalated when Musk made an unsubstantiated claim that Trump was linked to unreleased government documents concerning the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The White House dismissed the claim outright.
In response, Trump accused Musk of having “lost his mind” and threatened to cancel federal contracts with Musk’s companies, worth an estimated $38 billion — a large portion of which is linked to SpaceX.
Speaking to NBC on Sunday, Trump said: “I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful. You cannot disrespect the office of the president.”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1932695486684950962
Over the weekend, Musk deleted several of his more controversial posts, including one calling for Trump’s impeachment and another claiming he helped Trump win the election.
The fallout is particularly striking as Musk was previously the largest donor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and was seen by many as a key ally.
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has since called for Musk — who was born in South Africa — to be deported, while US Vice President JD Vance said he hoped Musk would “eventually come back into the fold”, though acknowledged the situation had “gone nuclear”.
Most Republicans have reportedly urged the pair to reconcile, while Democrats have largely observed the dispute from the sidelines.
Their clash comes just weeks after Musk resigned from his short-lived post at the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), after only 129 days in office.
