What happens when DOGE bites man could be revealed to Elon Musk.
After renewing the dispute that led to their very public painful separation last month, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and X, who was propelled to prominence by his ardent support of President Donald Trump, now faces the prospect of severe consequences for his personal financial situation.
Retaliation from Trump might cost Musk billions of dollars in federal contracts, as he has resumed his criticism of the Senate-passed tax and spending reduction measure. Their fragile truce has broken, sending a market-moving company’s stock price down and prompting the president to consider deporting Musk to his home country of South Africa.
On Tuesday, Trump pondered the idea of reversing Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, in a twist reminiscent of Frankenstein, as Musk continued to criticize the expense of Trump’s flagship law.
During his tour of a new immigrant detention center in Florida, Trump informed reporters that “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.” This came as Trump departed from the White House.
In a social media post made by Trump in the early hours of the morning, he implied that Musk “would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa” if he were to lose his government contracts.
Trump stopped and responded, “I don’t know,” when a reporter subsequently asked if he would deport Musk. We’ll need to investigate.
Feeling the need to exacerbate this, Musk responded on X. Quite alluring. Therefore, for the time being, I shall abstain. Messages for comment about the CEO were unanswered by Tesla and SpaceX.
An enormous bill split
According to Musk, Trump’s massive plan would be a financial disaster for the United States, stifling growth in certain sectors while laying waste to others. He isn’t content to just post negative comments online. On Monday, he made threats to return to politics and attempt to remove any lawmaker who supports the measure.
As Musk put it in one of his posts, “If it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he threatened to lose the primary next year.
He vowed to create a new political party and called Republicans “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” in previous remarks.
According to Trump, Musk is really displeased with the bill because it drastically eliminates the green energy tax incentives for EVs and other technologies that were established under Biden’s administration. Even while Musk denies it, the pullback might be bad for Tesla’s bottom line.
According to Trump’s article on his Truth Social network, Elon may get more subsidies than anybody in history. Without subsidies, Elon would likely have to shut down his business and return to South Africa.
A biography written by Walter Isaacson states that Musk became a citizen of the United States in the year 2002. Trump may or may not follow through with the unusual procedure of denaturalization, which involves having his citizenship revoked by the government.
Crucial dispute for Musk
Also under Trump’s scrutiny is SpaceX, Musk’s rocket and satellite business.
Trump stated in his tweet that the United States could save a fortune if there were to be an end to rocket launches, satellites, and electric car production. “Save a ton of money!”
NASA has contracted SpaceX to undertake several projects and send humans into space, with the company receiving billions of dollars from the federal government. Next year, SpaceX will lead a NASA crew to the moon.
However, the most noticeable consequence of their conflict was the 5.3% decline in Tesla stock price on Tuesday.
The success of Tesla stock can significantly affect the stock market index funds that millions of Americans have invested in for retirement. The electric car manufacturer is among the Magnificent Seven, a collection of seven firms that together represent one-third of the S&P 500’s worth. This group also includes Apple and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
For Musk’s auto firm, the timing of his social media tantrums couldn’t be worse. In Austin, Texas, Tesla’s self-driving “robotaxi” service has been running for only one week. If Musk wants to deliver on his promise to investors of rapidly expanding the service to other cities in the coming months, he needs that test to be successful.
Federal safety officials might be an obstacle.
Last week, footage of several of Tesla’s autonomous cabs in Austin driving erratically—including one merging into oncoming traffic—went viral on social media, prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to request information from the company.
Following last month’s data request by the NHTSA on the autonomous taxis’ performance in low-visibility areas, an inquiry into 2.4 million Teslas with fully self-driving software was launched last year following multiple incidents, one of which resulted in the death of a pedestrian.
Due to the failure of Tesla’s core business, the sale of automobiles, Musk is counting on robotaxis to take off.
Altercations’ latest repercussions
Although Musk has admitted that sales have taken a hit due to boycotts initiated by individuals who are opposed to his political views, he has mostly placed the blame on a less scary and temporary factor: people are waiting to buy Tesla vehicles because they are so excited about the upcoming Model Y SUV.
Despite the release of the updated version, sales continue to plummet. May sales in Europe fell 28% year-over-year, the sixth consecutive month of significant declines, according to figures released last week. On Wednesday, a fresh set of sales figures will be released, including not only the United States but also the rest of the globe.
The irony is that Trump and Musk’s social media feud poses threats to Musk’s enterprises from both directions. His connection with Trump has soured, and now people won’t purchase his automobiles. This might damage his other enterprises as well.
According to financial analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, “In a bizzarro world, he’s alienated both sides.”. “It appears unfathomable, yet he has accomplished it.”