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Allies of Donald Trump and Elon Musk have urged the US president and his billionaire backer to mend their relationship, seeking to limit the political and commercial damage from this week’s spectacular split.
The fissure between the powerful pair, ostensibly over the president’s signature tax bill, threatens to derail crucial parts of the White House’s legislative agenda, as well as wreck a hard-won alliance between Silicon Valley and Washington.
“It is unfortunate . . . I hope they will come back together,” Texas senator Ted Cruz, who was in the Oval Office when Trump slammed Musk, said on Friday. “A lot of conservatives are feeling like this is not good, let’s hug and make up.”
The Tesla chief executive, who had spent Thursday launching ever more explosive attacks on Trump, seemed to be open to a détente, responding positively to hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who urged the duo to “make peace for the benefit of our great country”.
Trump himself claimed he was “not even thinking about Elon”, before adding on CNN: “The poor guy’s got a problem . . . I won’t be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well.” The president spent the morning touting his administration’s record on the economy after lacklustre jobs numbers and urging the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
Tech figures who backed the administration hoping it would usher in an era of tax cuts and deregulation, have been racing to contain the quarrel, with limited success.
“Elon isn’t taking calls from anyone,” one Silicon Valley financier and big donor to Republican candidates told the Financial Times. “Not from people who have billions invested in his companies . . . The Valley is losing their shit.”
Attempts to get Trump to reconcile with his former “first buddy” were set back on Friday morning by news that the president planned to sell or give away the Tesla he had bought in March as a show of support for Musk. Reports of a conciliatory phone call between the two men were also dismissed by the White House.
Billionaire Tim Draper, who invested in Tesla and SpaceX, urged Trump and Musk to reunite to save the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative that was backed by many in the tech world and staffed by Silicon Valley executives.
“They seemed to be making good progress together,” Draper told the Financial Times. “My advice: Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”
However, cracks in Silicon Valley and Washington’s marriage of convenience had been appearing for weeks, particularly over the Trump tax bill that irked Musk. Deficit hawks have balked at the legislation adding trillions to the US debt pile, while more socially progressive tech figures have bridled at proposed cuts to entitlement programmes such as Medicaid.
“I am fully for pursuing the elimination of waste and fraud,” said Jon McNeill, a former Tesla president who worked alongside Musk and now runs start-up incubator DVx Ventures. “But at the same time, I don’t want a tax break so badly as to make the most vulnerable suffer. And from what I’m hearing, a lot of my peers feel the same way.”
