President Donald Trump appears ready to move past a recent public rift with tech billionaire Elon Musk, stating that he “always liked him” and that the billionaire had a “bad moment.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday, the President reflected on the duo’s recent turbulence over the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” a piece of legislation Musk publicly criticized.
“It’s good with him,” Trump said. “He had a bad spell. He had a bad period. He had a bad moment. It was a stupid moment in his life. But I like Elon and I suspect I’ll always like him.”
The comments follow a visible sign of a possible thaw in their relationship last month when the President and the world’s richest person were seen seated together at a memorial for conservative commentator Charlie Kirk in Arizona.
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The recent friction stemmed from the “Big Beautiful Bill,” shortly after Musk’s tenure as head of the Department of Government Efficiency concluded in May. During his brief, non-paid Special Government Employee status, Musk oversaw federal workforce reductions and claimed significant cost savings for the government.
Their relationship has been historically volatile, dating back to 2017 when Musk resigned from an economic advisory council after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.
However, their alliance was reignited in 2024 with a public endorsement and a substantial financial donation from Musk to the President’s re-election campaign.
The latest remarks from the President suggest that despite the public spat—which included Musk vowing to fund opposition against supporters of the bill and even floating the idea of a new political party—the dynamic between the President and the influential CEO appears to be back on solid ground.
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