Simply final week, Elon Musk accused President Donald Trump of getting deep ties to infamous intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now Musk is attempting to be pals once more.
After a spectacularly public breakup, the tech billionaire issued an early-morning semi-retraction, kind of apologizing for going scorched-earth on the president.
“I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week,” Musk wrote. “They went too far.”
He didn’t say which posts crossed the road—and truthfully, there’s no scarcity of contenders.
As Trump threatened to strip Musk’s corporations of their authorities contracts and subsidies, Musk fired again with a veiled menace that he’d outlast Trump politically, urged the president needs to be impeached and changed by Vice President JD Vance, and warned that Trump’s tariffs would “cause a recession in the second half of this year,” and claimed, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election.”
Oh, and Musk additionally accused the Trump administration of masking up the recordsdata round Epstein with a view to shield the president.
“[Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk posted. (That one’s since been deleted.)
Musk is clearly attempting to revive their once-close alliance. In latest days, he’s additionally shared Trump’s Reality Social posts in regards to the brutal immigration raids and subsequent protests in Los Angeles, and he’s even nodded alongside to a submit suggesting the 2 are “stronger together.”
Possibly Musk noticed the general public wasn’t precisely rallying to his aspect within the breakup. Maybe he realized he nonetheless needs these authorities contracts. Or possibly the strain from Trump’s interior circle lastly received to him. Who is aware of.
What’s not clear is whether or not Trump needs him again.
On Friday, Trump largely disregarded the drama, telling CNN, “He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem.” However by the point Musk’s retraction dropped, Trump’s tone had softened.
In a quick interview with the New York Put up on Wednesday, Trump mentioned he thought Musk’s apology was “very nice.”
“I thought it was very nice that he did that,” he mentioned, although he dodged whether or not he was able to make up.
And in a beforehand recorded New York Put up podcast launched Wednesday, Trump mentioned he didn’t blame Musk for something however was “disappointed” in him.
Will Trump ever forgive Musk?
“I guess I could,” the president replied within the interview, although he shortly pivoted. “My sole function now is getting this country back to a level higher than it’s ever been.”
Trump additionally walked again earlier threats to yank Musk’s federal contracts or probe his immigration standing—assaults egged on by Steve Bannon, a casual Trump adviser and a loud critic of Musk.
Notably, Bannon isn’t letting it go. He’s publicly urged Trump to launch a number of investigations into Musk, beginning with whether or not the world’s richest man is an “illegal alien.”
He “crossed the Rubicon,” Bannon mentioned of Musk on Friday. “There’s no going back.”
This week, Bannon ramped issues up much more, calling for a particular counsel to research Musk over alleged drug use, referencing a report from The New York Occasions that claimed Musk was utilizing whereas working carefully with the administration.
“Pull the security clearance for the drugs, temporarily,” Bannon mentioned. “Investigate the whole drug situation.”
The entire meltdown traces again to when Musk’s position within the administration ended. As soon as the face of Trump’s push to slash spending and intestine the federal workforce, Musk turned on his outdated boss quick, calling Trump’s signature home invoice a “disgusting abomination.” From there, the spat spiraled into wild accusations and private jabs.
There’s some chatter that the latest protests in Los Angeles would possibly’ve prompted Musk’s tried truce, since immigration is without doubt one of the few points he and Trump nonetheless largely align on. Musk’s been echoing Trump’s speaking factors on the protests, seemingly attempting to indicate they’re nonetheless ideologically synced.
Nonetheless, attempting to make peace with somebody you simply accused of being concerned with a intercourse offender says extra about Musk than anybody else.
