Earlier in the day, Musk called for Trump’s impeachment and insinuated he was withholding the release of files related to disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein because of his own presence in them.
Trump, in turn, proposed cutting off the billionaire’s government contracts, following his onetime adviser’s repeated exhortations for Republicans to vote against the president’s signature tax legislation because it would increase the deficit.
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However, hours after saying he would end use of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Dragon spacecraft, Musk reversed course and signaled there could be a cooling-off period between Trump and the world’s richest man.
“This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days,” an X user who had just 200 followers on the platform wrote in reply to Musk’s post about Dragon.
“Good advice,” Musk responded. “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
In a separate reply to billionaire Bill Ackman, an ally of both Trump and Musk who said they should “make peace for the benefit of our great country,” Musk responded: “You’re not wrong.”
The acrimonious back-and-forth between Musk and Trump represented a remarkable falling out among two men who spent months working together to reshape the federal government.
It also left Republican lawmakers in the awkward position of choosing sides between Musk, who has quickly become a key financial backer for the party’s political efforts, and Trump, the singular political force who has reshaped the party in his image.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that “policy differences shouldn’t be personal” and called Musk a friend as he addressed reporters Thursday.