Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he regrets some of his social media posts about U.S. President Trump last week, after a public spat between the two led to a rupture in their once-close alliance.
The conflict ended the close cooperation of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), which had driven Musk to streamline the budget during Trump's second term, and raised concerns in the market about the prospects of the tech tycoon’s Tesla and SpaceX. After the outbreak of the conflict, Tesla's market value experienced the largest single-day drop in history, but the stock price has gradually rebounded.
"I regret some of the posts about President Trump (@realDonaldTrump) from last week; they were a bit excessive." Musk wrote on the social media platform X.
The catalyst for the contradiction is Musk's opposition to the "Beautiful America Plan" tax and spending proposal supported by Trump. In an interview, he stated that the plan "destroys" the work of DOGE and further criticized it on social media for significantly increasing the U.S. budget deficit. The Trump administration refuted this.
As of last Saturday, Musk seems to have deleted some posts that intensified conflicts with White House leaders, including a post accusing Trump of being related to the late sex offender Epstein's "documents". The White House had previously denied this claim. In another post, Musk responded "agree" to a user's comment calling for "impeaching Trump and having Vice President Vance take over"; that content has also disappeared.
In the dispute, which was staged simultaneously through Musk's X platform and Trump's Truth Social, Trump also hinted that he would terminate the contracts and subsidies awarded by the government to Musk's enterprises. But on Monday, Mr. Trump said he planned to keep Starlink technology, a satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, in the White House.
Analysts believe that Musk's apology is unlikely to bridge the gap between the two sides. The ever-grudge-holding Trump, while stating "I wish him all the best," has clearly refused to mend fences. The golden period of their relationship lasted for a few months before Trump's second term, when Musk-led DOGE attempted to cut $1 trillion in federal spending, ultimately achieving a target of only $180 billion.
Wedbush technology analyst Dan Ives believes that the relationship between Musk and Trump "might not be fully repairable, but it could improve in the coming months." After all, "Trump needs Musk to maintain his relationship with the Republican Party, while Musk needs Trump more"—especially for key policies such as the federal framework for autonomous driving.
This conflict reveals the fragility of the relationship between Silicon Valley and the White House. In the five months since Trump's inauguration, he has pressured all the tech giant CEOs who attended his inauguration through lawsuits or statements—including Zuckerberg of Meta, Cook of Apple, Bezos of Amazon, and Pichai of Google. Microsoft has become one of the few winners (approved to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion), but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is still investigating its relationship with OpenAI.
Anat Alon-Beck, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, pointed out: "Tech giants have to accept the conditions set by the current government." Although Trump continued several antitrust investigations from the Biden era, his repeal of the AI safety executive order and measures to relax the regulatory environment still provided breathing space for the industry.
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Musk bowed his head in "regret," Silicon Valley ultimately is not a match for the White House.
Author: Jin10
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he regrets some of his social media posts about U.S. President Trump last week, after a public spat between the two led to a rupture in their once-close alliance.
The conflict ended the close cooperation of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), which had driven Musk to streamline the budget during Trump's second term, and raised concerns in the market about the prospects of the tech tycoon’s Tesla and SpaceX. After the outbreak of the conflict, Tesla's market value experienced the largest single-day drop in history, but the stock price has gradually rebounded.
"I regret some of the posts about President Trump (@realDonaldTrump) from last week; they were a bit excessive." Musk wrote on the social media platform X.
The catalyst for the contradiction is Musk's opposition to the "Beautiful America Plan" tax and spending proposal supported by Trump. In an interview, he stated that the plan "destroys" the work of DOGE and further criticized it on social media for significantly increasing the U.S. budget deficit. The Trump administration refuted this.
As of last Saturday, Musk seems to have deleted some posts that intensified conflicts with White House leaders, including a post accusing Trump of being related to the late sex offender Epstein's "documents". The White House had previously denied this claim. In another post, Musk responded "agree" to a user's comment calling for "impeaching Trump and having Vice President Vance take over"; that content has also disappeared.
In the dispute, which was staged simultaneously through Musk's X platform and Trump's Truth Social, Trump also hinted that he would terminate the contracts and subsidies awarded by the government to Musk's enterprises. But on Monday, Mr. Trump said he planned to keep Starlink technology, a satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, in the White House.
Analysts believe that Musk's apology is unlikely to bridge the gap between the two sides. The ever-grudge-holding Trump, while stating "I wish him all the best," has clearly refused to mend fences. The golden period of their relationship lasted for a few months before Trump's second term, when Musk-led DOGE attempted to cut $1 trillion in federal spending, ultimately achieving a target of only $180 billion.
Wedbush technology analyst Dan Ives believes that the relationship between Musk and Trump "might not be fully repairable, but it could improve in the coming months." After all, "Trump needs Musk to maintain his relationship with the Republican Party, while Musk needs Trump more"—especially for key policies such as the federal framework for autonomous driving.
This conflict reveals the fragility of the relationship between Silicon Valley and the White House. In the five months since Trump's inauguration, he has pressured all the tech giant CEOs who attended his inauguration through lawsuits or statements—including Zuckerberg of Meta, Cook of Apple, Bezos of Amazon, and Pichai of Google. Microsoft has become one of the few winners (approved to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion), but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is still investigating its relationship with OpenAI.
Anat Alon-Beck, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, pointed out: "Tech giants have to accept the conditions set by the current government." Although Trump continued several antitrust investigations from the Biden era, his repeal of the AI safety executive order and measures to relax the regulatory environment still provided breathing space for the industry.