Trump Tried To Hide His Sadness Over Elon Musk Breakup (But Everyone Knew)

In the fallout of Donald Trump's very messy, very public feud with Elon Musk, it seems the president's feelings may have gotten hurt. After Musk spent millions of dollars to help get Trump elected, the pair formed an ill-fated bromance that was destined to eventually fall apart. Although few people could have predicted just how spectacularly messy their break-up would turn out to be. Both petulant man-children took to their respective social media accounts to exchange barbs, which included Trump threatening Musk's businesses and Musk accusing Trump of hiding an alleged involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.

Needless to say, Trump has kept up a tough facade during the fuming feud, but some people close to the president say that the split has caused him some significant sadness. "The president was actually hurt," an unnamed source told Axios in an article published June 11. "Yes, he has feelings, and he was hurt the way anyone would be when a friend turns on them." However, it seems he's been working hard to bottle up his delicate emotions and project a stoic countenance.

It seems Musk has had some regrets as well. After posting inflammatory things about Trump, the groveling billionaire took to X June 11 to share a mea culpa, of sorts. "I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week," Musk wrote. "They went too far." While they may not be best buddies again — and Trump's Tesla at the White House will serve as a lonely reminder of the (admittedly toxic) bromance that was not meant to be — it seems the open aggression and feuding may have stopped for the time being.

Although Elon Musk was made a "special government employee" (per NPR) and worked with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Donald Trump and Musk's close-knit friendship was always somewhat turbulent and jam-packed with red flags. Despite pressure from the Democrats for accountability and transparency, and supposed tension between Musk and Vice President JD Vance, it felt for a time that Trump and Musk would be BFFs 4eva. However, after Musk's employment at the White House came to an end in May, Musk's mood changed.

The final straw came, it seems, when the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," a controversial spending bill that Musk spoke out against online. "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination," Musk wrote on June 3 in a since-deleted X post (per Reuters). "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong." Trump then accused Musk of having "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (via CNN), and Musk shared support for the suggestion that Trump get impeached so Vance can take over.

The public feuding came to a head all while Trump orchestrated a deployment of over 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles during protests of ICE, against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom. However, Trump still had time to comment on Musk's quasi-apology on June 11. When asked about Musk's recent post about regretting his previous X posts, Trump simply told The New York Post, "I thought it was very nice that he did that." Perhaps that old flame can be rekindled in the future (much to the inevitable chagrin of Vance).