Trump threatens to deport Elon Musk over BBB opposition

It’s a time, as a great Republican once announced, for choosing. Elon or the Donald? After they seemed to reach a détente, open hostilities have now resumed. This isn’t a cold war but a hot one that could go nuclear at any moment. To borrow from Trump’s own comment about Israel and Iran, we basically have two guys that “have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” Will it jeopardize Trump’s chances for a Nobel Peace Prize? Are foreign mediators necessary to create a new ceasefire?

Musk is threatening to launch and fund a new political party, much in the spirit of Nigel Farage’s Reform party, that could crater Republican political fortunes in the midterm elections. If anyone could succeed, it would be Musk. He’s already working to upend, if not rewire, the American electoral system. With the Supreme Court apparently poised to abolish spending limits by political parties in coordination with individual candidates, Musk might end up the true beneficiary with his seemingly limitless access to the green stuff. Just as he upended the federal government in a matter of weeks, so he might crater America’s electoral system.

On Tuesday, Musk issued a tweet with a picture of Pinocchio on fire headlined with the word in call capitals “LIAR.” He noted, “Anyone who campaigned on the PROMISE OF REDUCING SPENDING, but continues to vote on the BIGGEST DEBT ceiling increase in HISTORY will see their face on this poster in the primary next year.” Trump was not amused. In response, Trump is musing about slashing the former DoGE chief’s lavish federal subsidies and even about deporting him back to South Africa.

The proximate cause of the brouhaha is Trump’s one big beautiful bill that Musk has aptly named an “abomination.” Musk is chafing at the trillions in debt that it piles on to the federal deficit, not to mention its punitive provisions for solar and wind power. For Tesla, already reeling from Musk’s widespread unpopularity among the liberal set that originally bought his electric cars, the bill could prove a death sentence.

Trump is only into Tesla to the extent that he bought a red one as a charitable gesture for Musk shortly before he departed his DoGE role. For Trump, who simply wants to be able to sign a bill, any bill, on July 4 as part of his strongman stagecraft, Musk’s critiques represent an instance of betrayal, even high treason. As is his wont, Trump unleashed a fusillade of attacks against his latest domestic adversary, declaring that absent subsidies, “Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.” He went on to suggest that it would be fitting if DoGE were turned on its creator: “No more Rocket launches. Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DoGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

As always, Trump sees himself as the savior. How the Pentagon would function absent Musk’s SpaceX company is an interesting question. It is almost as dependent as Ukraine upon the good graces of the tempestuous former South African.

Whether DoGE can really “go back and eat Elon,” as Trump suggested, is dubious. A more efficacious course might be to denaturalize Musk and remand him to South Africa, a possibility that Trump says he will “look” at. For now, though, Elon has the upper hand as he plays the role that Trump has traditionally assumed – political provocateur. It may not be the fourth of July yet, but the fireworks have already begun.