"I regret some of my posts about President Trump from last week. They went too far." Being the richest man in the world, and having under your control the most powerful dissemination platform in history, it serves very little if you have offended the president of the United States, the most volcanic, unpredictable, and vengeful in recent memory.
This Wednesday, Elon Musk has knelt, apologized, and regretted a mistake that his friends, advisors, and even his family have criticized him for. A challenge to his temporary partner that could cost his companies a fortune and discredit him among his followers, many of whom are loyal to the Republican leader. In recent days, he had already taken some steps and is trying to align himself with the administration's rhetoric with his reaction to the protests in Los Angeles. But the president, hurt and affected, has not wanted anything to do with him. He had ignored his calls and made it clear that he has no desire to build bridges. "I guess, yes, the relationship is broken", he said over the weekend. It remains to be seen how he will react from now on.
On Monday night, as reported by The New York Times, they spoke on the phone, after Musk had spoken with the vice president and Trump's chief of staff, Susie Willes, over the weekend to find a way to fix the situation.
About a year ago, Musk and Donald Trump forged an unthinkable alliance. Until then, they didn't have much in common. Musk came from a more progressive world, but his ideological drift against the left, what he considers wokeism and identity politics (especially after his son announced a gender change), brought him closer to the Republican leader. The entrepreneur put $275 million of his own money into Trump's campaign and mobilized his friends from Silicon Valley and his 200 million X followers (formerly Twitter). From there, he moved to the inner circle, spending more time at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, Trump's residential complex in Florida, than attending to his businesses. Until a few days ago, the relationship suffered the explosive, violent, uncontrollable rupture that everyone expected.
Musk started by criticizing Trump's tax law, saying it would skyrocket the deficit. From there, he went on to say it was a "disgusting abomination" that "would enslave Americans", urging citizens to pressure their congressmen, threatening to punish those who voted in favor, and teaming up with Senator Rand Paul, the biggest critic of the proposal from within the Republican ranks. Trump repeatedly ignored the provocations, which further angered his partner. And when he finally, tired, simply said he was "disappointed" and that Musk suffers from the same syndrome as the Democrats, who obsess over him, and his former advisors, who can't stand losing access to the "glamour of the White House," and speculated about breaking federal contracts with Musk's companies, he exploded.
In a matter of hours, he insulted the president, led an attack by resurrecting old messages from Trump against fiscal proposals that increase the deficit, called him a liar, and ultimately, losing complete control, said that the Government was fulfilling its promises to release the alleged secret papers of the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein "because Trump is in them". A very serious accusation, especially painful for the president, who has tried to erase his past relationship and photos with Epstein. Fodder for the conspiratorial MAGA movement, which has been fantasizing for years about the Clinton couple's relationship with Epstein. That was the last straw.
Trump has remained surprisingly silent. He mentioned two or three times that they could review contracts with companies like SpaceX, and in private, according to The Washington Post, he disparaged Musk for being "a big-time drug addict". He even threatened him if he dared to put his money at the service of his rivals. But he ordered everyone around him not to escalate. There were no coordinated attacks in return. Vice President JD Vance and the ministers said it was a shame that everything had happened, that Musk had made a mistake, but without bloodshed. Trump was afraid because humiliating the president of a country that depends on Washington for its survival is not the same as someone as powerful, rich, and with internal information as Musk.
MAGA figures like guru Steve Bannon attacked Musk, calling for an investigation into whether he is an illegal immigrant, the termination of contracts, and even the nationalization of his companies. But the White House, the entire economic team, and even the entire FOX network staff lowered the tone, hoping for a possible reconciliation. "If Vance was compared to Hitler and ended up as vice president, anything is possible," said one of their stars.
Even Musk's father, who these days has been in Russia participating in an official forum, pointed out that the entrepreneur had made a mistake, lost his manners, made a big mistake. This has led Musk to take a very clear step back. First, he retracted his threat to sever ties with the U.S. space program, which now depends largely on his rockets. Then, without saying anything, he deleted many of the most violent messages against Trump, including the one about Epstein and the one calling for an impeachment, a political trial for the president's removal, and today he has apologized.
In his own way, without specifying exactly where he thinks he went too far and above all making it clear that he only believes it was in "some messages," not all, not in the campaign or crusade against the law that Trump calls "Big Beautiful Bill". But a very clear surrender, aware that he has much more to lose.