The simmering tension between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has flared up once again. In a heated social media post, Trump lashed out at the tech billionaire, telling him to “head back home to South Africa” and accusing him of benefiting from billions in government subsidies.
This latest exchange came after Musk publicly criticized a major tax and spending bill pushed by Trump’s administration. The bill, labeled by critics as the “big beautiful bill”, sparked outrage from Musk, who accused supporting politicians of hypocrisy and pledged to help vote them out.
In one of his strongest statements yet, Musk said: “Those who campaigned on cutting spending but voted for this should hang their heads in shame. They’ll lose their primaries if it’s the last thing I do.”
He even threatened to launch a campaign publicly naming lawmakers who backed the bill, branding them as liars responsible for raising the national debt by $5 trillion.
Trump fired back quickly. In a sharply worded post, he claimed Musk only thrived thanks to government handouts: “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history. Without them, he’d probably have to shut down and head back to South Africa. No more rockets, no satellites, no electric cars — and the country would save a fortune.”
Trump also took a jab at Musk’s leadership role in a government department created under his own administration — one aimed at reducing federal bureaucracy. While Musk had boasted that the department saved billions by cutting over 120,000 government jobs, Trump now mocked the entire initiative.
Despite having donated hundreds of millions to Trump’s 2024 campaign, Musk has since distanced himself, describing the latest spending plan as “utterly insane and destructive.”
He went so far as to post, and later delete, claims linking Trump to controversial legal files, something Musk later admitted “went too far.”
“I regret some of my posts about President Trump last week,” Musk said. “They crossed the line.”
Trump, in response, simply said he appreciated the apology.