Elon Musk has said he regrets some of the comments he made about US President Donald Trump.
Posting to his social media platform X, Musk wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far.”
While neither Musk nor Trump have spoken about a formal reconciliation following their public falling out over the last two weeks, Musk’s post signals a cooling of tensions between the pair.
The spectacular fallout between the president of the United States and the world’s richest man played out largely on their respective social media platforms.
After what had initially seemed like an amicable exit from the White House, Musk began criticising Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” leading the president to suggest cancelling Musk’s lucrative government contracts.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on his social media network. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
“This just gets better and better,” Musk quickly replied on X. “Go ahead, make my day.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Donald Trump lamented their frayed relationship and said he was “very disappointed in Musk.”
The mood quickly descended into personal attacks, as Trump said Musk had “lost his mind” after the billionaire speculated about the US president’s links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Musk later offered up an especially stinging insult to a president sensitive about his standing among voters: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk retorted. “Such ingratitude,” Musk said in a follow-up post.
High-profile Republicans had been urging the two to put aside their differences, fearful of the damage that could be done in a drawn-out conflict.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance told podcaster Theo Von he hoped Musk would come “back into the fold,” though he admitted that may not be possible now.
“Look, it happens to everybody,” he added.
“I’ve flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.”
Musk’s own father, Errol Musk, also poured water on the row, telling a Russian newspaper it “was just a small thing” and would “be over tomorrow.”
He added: “Trump will prevail – he’s the president, he was elected as the president. So, you know, Elon made a mistake, I think. But he is tired, he is stressed.”
Trump is yet to comment on this change of tone from Musk, telling reporters when last asked he assumed the relationship was over and warning Musk he would “pay the consequences” should he start funding Trump’s political rivals.
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