Days after their feud erupted into public view, Elon Musk is walking back some of what he said about President Donald Trump.
“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” Musk wrote on X early on Wednesday morning.
Trump responded hours later, telling the New York Post in a brief interview: “I thought it was very nice that he did that.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Musk’s post came less than a week after his relationship with Trump publicly broke down. On Thursday, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX repeated his criticisms of Trump’s signature tax bill in a series of posts on X.
Musk then claimed credit for Trump and the GOP’s victory in last year’s elections, before floating the possibility of starting his own political party.
“Such ingratitude,” Musk said of Trump and the Republicans in one of the posts on X last week. He also agreed with an X post that referenced Trump’s impeachment, before deleting it.
Trump initially expressed disappointment at Musk’s behavior and threatened to cancel the government contracts Musk’s businesses had received. The president appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone during a press conference on Monday.
“Look, I wish him well. You understand? We had a good relationship, and I just wish him well,” Trump said.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk was a prominent backer of Trump’s presidential campaign, and spent at least $277 million supporting Trump and other Republican candidates in last year’s elections. Following Trump’s victory, Musk joined the administration and led the White House DOGE office.
Investors initially viewed Musk’s association with Trump as positive. Tesla’s stock hit a peak closing price of $479 in December.
But public opinion on Musk began to sour as DOGE began laying off federal workers and cutting government contracts. Protests expanded to Tesla showrooms across the country. In March, Tesla’s stock fell by over 40% from its record highs in mid-December.
Last month, Musk said on a Tesla earnings call that he would scale down his involvement with DOGE. He said in an interview with CNBC in May that he plans to visit the White House “for a couple of days every few weeks.”
On Tuesday, Musk responded in an X post to a Bloomberg story that said he lost 25% of his fortune due to DOGE: “Worth it,” he wrote.
In a note on Wednesday morning, Wedbush analysts and Tesla bulls commented on Trump and Musk’s relationship, writing, “Trump needs Musk to stay close to the Republican Party and Musk needs Trump for many reasons, including a green light on a federal framework for autonomous.”
The New York Post also released a podcast with Trump on Wednesday, recorded Monday before Musk’s latest comments. In it, the president said he had “no hard feelings” about their falling out.
Trump added he was “not a happy camper” when Musk criticized the bill.
