While Elon Musk made a public effort to reach a compromise, US President Donald Trump rekindled his long simmering conflict with the Tesla CEO.
Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, Trump described the "favours" he claimed to have given Musk during the billionaire's brief tenure as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. This was a familiar mix of humor and complaint.
"Has he ever thanked me for that properly?" Trump addressed the audience during a dramatic break in his speech. He continued by arguing that middle class Americans were the target audience for tax incentives for purchasing electric vehicles.
He remarked, "Even people that go buy a car, they've never had this," before veering off topic to clarify that wealthy households sometimes depend on deductions.
People with middle class incomes are unaware of what a deduction is. They have no idea. They survive on deductions in this room. I agree. What is the amount of the deduction? We all depend on it," he continued.
According to Trump, his government made sure that consumers could get interest deductions when they bought "a nice Tesla car."
Then, turning to face Musk, he spoke the six words that ignited political discourse: "You're so lucky." Elon, I agree with you. He then made a joke about how he still permitted Musk to sell "cars that aren't electric but those are minor details."
Shortly after the comments, Musk wrote, "I would like to thank President Trump for all he has done for America and the world," in a carefully crafted letter on X.
Photos of Musk at the event with Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang were included with the tweet.
Trump and Musk were spotted together for the second time since their friendship publicly soured earlier in the year. Musk has previously supported Trump and served as the short term leader of a government efficiency initiative that advocated for drastic reductions in governmental staffing and budget.
After Musk publicly denounced Trump's tax and spend proposal as financially reckless and revealed ambitions to start a new political party, their collaboration started to fall apart.
In response, Trump threatened to stop government backing for Musk's businesses, heightening tensions that negatively impacted Tesla's stock performance and public perception.
With the exception of a quick handshake at a funeral service in September, the two mostly avoided one another in the months that followed.
Although Musk's post on X seems to be an attempt to defuse the situation, Trump's most recent comments indicate he still has the last say.
