WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday by suggesting that he could have the Department of Government Efficiency look into Elon Musk, and entertaining a question about deporting the high-profile businessman.
“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” the president said outside the White House on Tuesday as he prepared to depart for “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new immigration detention center in Florida.
Asked by a reporter if he would consider deporting Musk to South Africa, his home country, the president responded: “I don’t know, we’ll have to take a look.”
Late Monday night, the president criticized Musk on Truth Social, slamming his erstwhile ally and former head of DOGE for his opposition to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Musk, who went so far as to publicly suggest last month that the president had unsavory ties to Jeffrey Epstein and was repressing the release of the Epstein Files to protect himself, said later that he regretted his avalanche of attacks on the president and that some of them “went too far.”
(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one.”
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” the president added. “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!!!”
Trump’s comments came as Musk called for the formation of a new political party on Monday, called the “America Party.” Musk, who has been very vocal in opposing the president’s reconciliation bill, suggested that he would back challengers to almost “every” Republican in Congress.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame,” Musk said in an X post, adding, “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk said in another “X” post on Monday. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”
