Spending Bill Row Escalates as Trump Threatens to Deport Musk

Donald Trump and Elon Musk reignited their bitter feud on Tuesday, with the US president threatening to deport the tech tycoon and strip federal funds from his businesses for criticizing Trump's flagship spending bill.

- Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON:

The world's richest person was Trump's biggest political donor in the 2024 election and became his inseparable ally during his first months back in the White House as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

But the SpaceX and Tesla boss is now threatening to turn his riches against Trump, mulling a rival political party to challenge Republican lawmakers who vote for Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."

Trump, 78, reacted vengefully on Tuesday. "We'll have to take a look," he told reporters when asked if he would consider deporting Musk, who has held US citizenship since 2002.

In reply to a post on his X social network featuring Trump's deportation comments, Musk replied on Tuesday: "So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now."

Trump signals targeting Musk's businesses Trump also signaled that he could take aim at the huge contracts and subsidies that Musk's SpaceX rocket and Starlink satellite internet businesses receive from the US government. "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.

Trump doubled down when he said he believed Musk was attacking his so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" because he was annoyed that it had dropped measures to support the electric vehicles (EV) industry.