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Trump Gives Update On Friendship With Elon Musk: ‘Wonderful Guy’

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President Donald Trump revealed that his relationship with Elon Musk has markedly improved since the two had a dramatic, and extremely public, falling out earlier this month.

While speaking with Fox News, the president expressed his belief that Musk’s dissatisfaction with his administration stemmed from provisions in Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax cut bill that would wind down lucrative electric vehicle mandates. Musk is the founder of Tesla, the largest maker of electric vehicles in the U.S.

“I think he’s a wonderful guy,” Trump said about his former advisor, though adding he “hasn’t spoken to him much” since Musk departed the White House.

“I think he’s a wonderful guy, and I know he’s going to do well always. He’s a smart guy, and he actually went and campaigned with me… But he got a little bit upset, and that wasn’t appropriate.”

“Why did he get upset? He just wasn’t getting what he wanted?” asked host Maria Bartiromo.

“Look, the electric vehicle mandate, EV mandate, is a tough thing for him, I would think,” Trump replied. “I don’t want everybody to have to have an electric car.”

Most notably, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would eliminate a federal rebate of $7,500 for purchasers of new electric vehicles and $4,000 for used EVs. It was utilized by an estimated 87% of EV purchasers in 2024, according to Bankrate.

“I campaigned on ‘you have choice.’ If you want a gasoline powered [car], if you want a hybrid… I love the electric cars. I love his cars. I think they’re fantastic. But not everybody should have that, and not everybody wants that,” the president continued.

The four-figure rebates for EVs were originally implemented in 2008, but they were supercharged when former President Joe Biden signed the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

“Biden, he’s so stupid. Everybody had to have an electric car by 2030, okay?” Trump explained. “And how do you do that when you don’t have enough electricity?”

Pointing to California, Trump cited energy “brownouts” hitting blue states where EV adoption has been part of an aggressive agenda to transition toward net-zero energy use within the next decade. Those plans were dashed earlier this month when Trump signed three resolutions negating Gov. Gavin Newsom’s regulations mandating that only EVs be sold by California auto dealers beginning in 2035.

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Musk, who has since relocated Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas, emerged as the most prolific donor to Trump in the 2024 election, showering his various political operations with more than a quarter-billion dollars to fund get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states. After Trump was sworn into office, he tapped Musk to found the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, where he garnered headlines for producing astonishing examples of government waste or inefficiencies.

However, the two began to publicly feud following Musk’s criticism of the “big, beautiful” bill for its cost, prompting Trump to respond that Musk was a “big time drug user” while in the government. Musk has been candid about his prescription for ketamine to treat a mood disorder.

The dispute became increasingly personal and reached its zenith when Musk accused Trump of withholding a full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files because he was named in some of the documents. Musk later deleted social media posts about the accusation and expressed “regret” for some of his past criticisms of Trump.