It seems like President Donald Trump might be willing to move past the very public feud he and Elon Musk had earlier this year. Though their dramatic falling out dragged on for months, Trump is now referring to the whole thing as “a bad spell” on Musk’s part. He also seemed to suggest that their on-again, off-again relationship might not be over yet, as he continues to have positive feelings about Musk.
At the start of Trump’s second presidency, Musk began working closely with Trump as a “special government employee” for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In May 2025, Musk announced that he was leaving his government role. Shortly after that, Musk’s relationship with Trump began to deteriorate. With insults on display for the world to see, the mother of one of Musk’s children also got involved in the social media feud, letting Trump know that she’d be willing to share some advice with him as he navigated the breakup.
hey @realDonaldTrump lmk if u need any breakup advice
— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) June 5, 2025
As the feud escalated, Trump seemed to grieve what his relationship with Elon once was. “Elon and I had a great relationship,” he told reporters in June. “I don’t know if we will anymore.” Now, though, Trump claims that he will “always like” Musk in spite of it all.
On board Air Force One, Trump spoke to reporters about his complicated relationship with Musk. “During Charlie’s beautiful tribute, Elon came up,” he said. “It’s good with him. I like Elon; I’ve always liked Elon. It’s good.”
Of course, if you followed the messy breakup, “good” might seem like a bit of a stretch. But Trump suggested that Musk was simply going through “a bad period” when he took to social media to criticize him and accuse him of being in the so-called Epstein files (in a since-deleted post, Musk wrote, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”)
Trump implied that he’s willing to forgive and forget. “He had a bad spell, he had a bad period, he had a bad moment,” Trump said of Musk. “It was a stupid moment in his life, very stupid. I’m sure he’d tell you that. I like Elon and I suspect I’ll always like him.”
Trump also described Musk as “a nice guy” and “a very capable guy.” Previously, Vice President JD Vance also blamed Musk for the falling out. At the same time, he said he was hoping that Trump and Musk would repair their relationship later on. At the time, he joked that Musk didn’t seem interested in working things out. “I don’t know that he would take my call right now,” Vance said.
