Trump says his bromance with Elon Musk is OVER

President Donald Trump floated that his bromance with Elon Musk was over after the former 'first buddy' went on a social media tear over the Republicans' 'big beautiful bill.' 

On Thursday, Musk had highlighted several of the Trump's vintage tweets demanding that lawmakers not be eligible for reelection if they don't balance the budget and shaming Republicans for extending the debt ceiling. 

Trump was asked about Musk's recent criticism during his Thursday Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 

'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more, I was surprised,' Trump told reporters. 

The president suggested that Musk was angry - not over the bill ballooning the deficit - but because the Trump administration has pulled back on electric vehicle mandates, which negatively impacted Tesla, and replaced the Musk-approved nominee to lead NASA, which could hinder SpaceX's government contracts.

'And you know, Elon's upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles, and they're having a hard time the electric vehicles and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,' Trump said. 'I know that disburbed him.'

Over the weekend, Trump pulled the nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Isaacman had worked alongside Musk at SpaceX.

'He recommended somebody that I guess he knew very well, I'm sure he respected him, to run NASA and I didn't think it was appropriate and he happened to be a Democrat, like totally Democrat,' Trump continued. 'We won, we get certain privileges and one of the privileges is we don't have to appoint a Democrat.' 

Musk posted to X as Trump's Q&A with reporters was ongoing. 

'Whatever,' the billionaire wrote. 

'Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,' he advised. 

'In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that [is] both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this!' Musk continued. 'Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.' 

In the Oval, Trump insisted that Musk knew the contents of the bill before the House passed it. Trump is now pushing Republican senators to sign on, so he can sign it before the Fourth of July holiday.  

'He became a little bit different. I can understand that. But he knew every aspect of this bill. He knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left,' Trump protested. 

Musk immediately pushed back on X  - sharing the clip of Trump's comments. 

'False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!' Musk said. 

At the top of Musk's X profile on Thursday, the billionaire had pinned a tweet that said 'Wise words,' highlighting a Trump tweet from 2013 that said, 'I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!'

Trump noted that until recently Musk had 'said the most beautiful things about me.'

Musk publicly endorsed Trump on the heels of the July 13th assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania and poured around $290 million of his fortune into the Republican's campaign. 

The billionaire also joined Trump on the campaign trail when he returned to the site of the Butler shooting in early October, a month before Election Day.

Trump said Thursday that he likely still would have won Pennsylvania without Musk's help because Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris didn't choose the state's governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her running mate. 

'But if they would have picked him, I would have won Pennsylvania, I would have won by a lot,' Trump said. 

Musk publicly said that was laughable. 

'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Musk claimed. 

'Such ingratitude,' the billionaire added. 

In the Oval, Trump pointed out that the battle with Musk had yet to turn personal. 

'And he hasn't said bad about me personally, but I'm sure that will be next,' Trump said. 

It was. 

'I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot,' Trump said. 

He pushed that Musk has been disappointed by life outside the White House.  

'I think he got out there and all of the sudden he wasn't in this beautiful office,' Trump said. 

Trump said Musk's about-face represented a greater trend. 

'People leave my administration and they love us and then, at some point, they miss it so badly. And some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile. I don't know what it is, it's sort of Trump Derangement Syndrome, I guess they call it,' the president said. 'They leave, they wake up in the morning and the glamour is gone, the whole world is different and they become hostile.'  

The president's comments come less than a week after he feted Musk in the Oval Office, giving him an official farewell as the billionaire moved out of special government employee status and back into the private sector. 

Trump noted that he had given Musk a 'wonderful send-off' on Friday before he headed to Pittsburgh to tout a steel deal between Nippon and U.S. Steel. 

'Remember, he was here for a long time. You saw a man who was very happy. He stood behind the Oval desk. Even with a black eye,' Trump said. 'I said, "do you want a little makeup?" And he said, "No I don't think so," which was interesting.'

'And very nice,' Trump added. 'He wants to be who he is,' the president shrugged.