President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk are expected to speak by phone Friday in an effort to reconcile and end their explosive public feud that suddenly erupted on social media Thursday.
White House aides have scheduled the call between the two allies after working to persuade Trump to tone down his public criticism of Musk to avoid further escalation of their bitter clash over the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
According to reports, “signs of a truce are emerging in the increasingly bitter clash between two of the world’s most powerful men.”
A senior White House official told Fox News that Trump doesn’t expect to speak to Musk Friday, but White House staffers are working to broker peace between the billionaire and the president. “No call scheduled or had. Musk wants a call. POTUS hasn’t made a decision,” a source familiar with the matter said.
Fox News learned that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk may speak to White House aides Friday even if he doesn’t get through to Trump directly.
Trump projected an air of calm when asked about the very public breakup with his onetime megabacker.
“Oh it’s okay,” Trump said in a brief telephone call Thursday. “It’s going very well, never done better. The numbers are through the roof, the highest polls I’ve ever had and I have to go.”
The reconciliation efforts come after Musk had been “wearing thin” on Trump for about a month before their explosive public showdown Thursday, according to Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy.
The feud reached peak intensity when Musk called for Trump’s impeachment, reposting a tweet that said “Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him” and responding with a simple “Yes.”
Musk also escalated the war of words by claiming Trump appears in the Jeffrey Epstein files and is the reason the FBI won’t release them, posting:
Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Trump fired back on Truth Social, writing: “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”
The president also threatened to pull Musk’s lucrative government contracts, posting: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to downplay the feud, calling it “an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
The public reconciliation efforts highlight just how valuable Musk has been as a Republican ally, and how popular his work with Trump has been.
The Tesla CEO spent nearly $100 million supporting Trump in the 2024 election, with his purchase of Twitter and transformation of it into a free speech platform providing a crucial boost for conservative messaging.
As one sign of how seriously the White House is taking the rift, Fox News reported that the red Tesla Trump bought during a demonstration on the South Lawn earlier this year is now expected to be given away or sold off. The vehicle with Florida tags currently remains parked on West Executive Drive near the White House.
The Tesla purchase had originally been a show of support for Musk when his company faced consumer backlash over his political activism.
Republicans have noted that Musk’s contributions to the conservative movement extend far beyond his financial support, as his control of X (formerly Twitter) has been instrumental in countering liberal media narratives and promoting Republican messaging.
The very public nature of Thursday’s social media battle created a spectacle that had Democrats “practically giddy” about the Republican infighting, according to reports. Memes about the feud quickly went viral —
And just like that, Democrats are now demanding the Epstein files be released.
Well played. pic.twitter.com/zF9IKCi5kK
— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) June 5, 2025
While healthy disagreement within the Republican Party can be productive, the personal attacks Thursday didn’t help anyone and only provided ammunition for Democrats eager to highlight GOP divisions.
Trump’s relatively calm response to Politico suggests he may be ready to move past the confrontation, especially after White House aides worked to convince him that continued escalation would be counterproductive.
The scheduled Friday call represents an opportunity for both men to step back from the brink and restore their working relationship. For Republicans, a successful reconciliation would remove a major distraction from Trump’s legislative agenda and preserve a crucial alliance heading into the midterm elections.
We’ll see if they can bury the hatchet Friday.