The US president still said that the tech billionaire’s attacks on him and his “big, beautiful bill” were “not appropriate”
Donald Trump has called Elon Musk a “wonderful guy,” despite the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s renewed criticism of the US president’s so-called “big, beautiful” budget bill which would include a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase.
Musk again lashed out the legislation on Saturday, writing on X that it was “utterly insane” and predicting that it would hurl the US into “debt slavery” and destroy millions of jobs. However, his warnings did not prevent the Senate from narrowly voting to move forward on Trump’s bill a few hours later.
A war of words erupted between the two former allies after Musk stepped down as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) a month ago. Besides criticizing the budget bill, he attacked Trump personally, including linking the US president to deceased convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The world’s richest man later deleted the post on X, acknowledging that some of his comments “went too far.”
When asked by Fox News on Sunday if he still keeps in touch with Musk, Trump replied: “I think he is a wonderful guy. I have not spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy, and I know he is going to do well always.”
“He is a smart guy. And he actually went and campaigned with me and this and that. But he got a little bit upset, and that was not appropriate,” the president added about his falling-out with the entrepreneur.
Trump reiterated his claim that Musk had become upset not because of the “big, beautiful bill,” but because of the president’s plans to roll back electric vehicle (EV) mandates around the country.
“Look, the electric vehicle mandate, the EV mandate, is a tough thing for him. I would, you know, I do not want everybody to have to have an electric car,” Trump explained.
In mid-June, the president went on to sign three resolutions barring California from mandating EV sales and setting tailpipe emissions standards that had been used as a template by other US states to speed up the transition away from combustion engines.
