Trump says he’ll look into deporting Elon as fight over bill escalates

Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s dysfunctional cycle of fighting over the president’s “Big Beautiful” domestic policy bill has returned to the spotlight, with the president telling reporters Tuesday morning that “we’ll have to take a look” into deporting the billionaire.

He also proposed targeting Musk with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying, “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”

Musk has been a longtime critic of Trump’s budget bill, which he says he opposes because it will increase the budget deficit, though a proposed removal of EV tax credits that help Tesla likely plays a role.

After the pair traded mean posts in early June, both had retreated from publicly squabbling, and Musk deleted tweets that linked Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.

Then on Monday evening, as the Senate worked through a “vote-a-rama” in an attempt to pass the spending bill, Musk started posting again. He reiterated a threat to primary politicians who support the bill, and tweeted that “If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day.” The president of the United States posted a response on his own social media site a bit after midnight, suggesting DOGE (which Musk led before publicly stepping down in May) could cut subsidies for Musk’s companies. Without them, Trump said, “Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”

President Trump, on Truth Social:

Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one. Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!

Musk responded to a video of the president’s comments on X, claiming it’s “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.”