President Donald Trump said on Saturday that there would be “serious consequences” if former advisor Elon Musk funded Democratic candidates following their public feud.
The pair had a falling out on Thursday, exchanging threats ranging from Trump pulling Musk’s government contracts to Musk decommissioning his Dragon spacecraft and starting a new political party, which he acknowledged would hurt the GOP.
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told NBC News when asked about Musk funding Democratic candidates. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” he added.
It’s unclear what the consequences for Musk would be, but Trump could follow through on his threat to pull Musk’s government contracts.
Trump said “no” to a question of whether he wanted to repair their relationship. Trump said he has no plans to speak to Musk and is busy doing his job as president. Trump believes Musk has been “disrespectful to the office of the President.”
“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the President,” he said.
Trump appeared to show restraint when faced with Musk’s attacks, though he delivered his own barbs on social media.
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” he wrote on Truth Social. “This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
According to a source familiar with the matter, Vice President JD Vance was with Trump when the Musk fight started to get out of hand, and Vance spoke with Trump multiple times throughout the day. Trump encouraged his vice president to speak diplomatically about Musk when asked about him.
Prior to the falling out, Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got into a physical altercation at the White House, according to longtime Trump advisor Steve Bannon. When Trump heard about it, he reportedly said, “This is too much.”
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The catalyst of the Trump-Musk feud was the “big, beautiful bill.” Musk believed that it was counterproductive to his Department of Government Efficiency’s goals because it would increase the deficit.
Musk then accused Trump of being in the Epstein files, said his tariffs would cause the U.S. to go into a recession, and threatened to start a new centrist political party, among other things.