‘So Tempting To Escalate’: Elon Musk’s Tense Reply To Trump’s Deportation Threat

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‘So Tempting To Escalate’: Elon Musk’s Tense Reply To Trump’s Deportation Threat

The explosive feud between US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk hit a new peak on Tuesday, with Trump suggesting he might look into deporting the Tesla CEO, who responded with a tense but restrained post on his social media platform, X.

“So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now,” Musk wrote, pushing back against Trump’s escalating threats. Musk, who was born in South Africa, became a naturalized US citizen in 2002.

The bitter public falling out, which has seen the two former allies trade increasingly personal jabs, reached a boiling point after Trump was asked by reporters if he would consider deporting Musk. “I don’t know. We’ll have to take a look,” the President responded.

Trump didn’t stop there. He also threatened to turn the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—the cost-cutting unit that Musk himself briefly led for the administration—against the SpaceX founder. “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,” Trump said, adding, “Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies.”

The war of words erupted after Musk, who left his role in the White House in May, became a fierce critic of the Trump administration’s massive new tax-cut and spending bill, labelling it “utterly insane and destructive” and warning it would dangerously inflate the national debt.

Trump has dismissed Musk’s concerns as being financially motivated. He claims the billionaire is simply upset over losing electric vehicle tax credits under the new plan. “He’s upset… that he’s losing his EV mandate. But you know, he could lose a lot more than that,” Trump said in a thinly veiled threat. The President also repeated claims that Musk is the biggest recipient of government subsidies in history and that without them, he would have to “close up shop and head back to South Africa.”

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