Tech billionaire Elon Musk emphasized his relative youth compared to President Trump amid his war of words against his onetime ally, claiming he will live much longer than Trump will be in office.
Musk was responding to a Thursday post on his social platform X from right-wing activist Laura Loomer, as the Tesla CEO sent out his flurry of posts attacking the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” and claiming credit for Trump’s electoral victory in November.
Loomer said she knows of lawmakers who were asking if they should side with Trump or Musk in the battle and described the public faceoff as “the most powerful man in the world vs the richest man in the world.”
“Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years …” Musk responded.
The tensions seemed to show signs of cooling a bit, as he responded “true” to an X post arguing he and the president should “make peace for the benefit of our great country.” But Trump told ABC News in an interview Friday that he’s “not particularly” interested in speaking to Musk, even though the tech mogul may want to speak to him.
The relationship between the two men seemed to reach a breaking point Thursday after the billionaire criticized the spending package Trump is trying to get through Congress. The megabill, if passed, would extend his tax cuts, increase funding for border security and cut spending for social safety net programs, among other measures.
Musk, who recently departed the administration, has in recent days denounced the legislation for increasing the national debt significantly, calling it a “disgusting abomination.” But Thursday, his attacks became directly critical of Trump.
He argued the president would not have won the 2024 election without his backing and floated the possibility of launching a third party opposed to the two main ones. In perhaps his sharpest criticism of the day, Musk claimed Trump has ties to convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, arguing it’s the reason more files about the infamous criminal haven’t been made public.
Trump has denied any connection to Epstein.
