CNN
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Last week, Elon Musk was calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. This week, Musk is back to praising the administration, softening his tone after the two powerful leaders’ very public breakup.
The whiplash came as protests erupted in Los Angeles over actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and immigration raids.
Over the weekend, Musk deleted some of his most incendiary X posts about the president, including the call for his impeachment and the allegation, without providing evidence, that Trump’s name appeared in documents related to the crimes of convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Musk appeared to wholeheartedly support the Trump administration’s stance on the situation in Los Angeles, adding American Flags to a post from Vice President JD Vance about how the “president will not tolerate rioting and violence.” Musk has long supported closed borders, stopping illegal immigration and deportations, in alignment with the Trump administration.
The tech billionaire posted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from Trump that said California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “should apologize to the people of Los Angeles,” as clashes have broken out, cars have been set on fire and demonstrations intensify.
He also wrote “cool” to a video of Vance speaking in an interview, saying he thinks “if Elon chills out a little bit everything will be fine.”
And the Tesla CEO re-followed White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, considered one of the lead Trump administration officials on immigration policy, whom he had unfollowed on Thursday in the midst of his blow up with Trump. The move was especially notable considering Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, had recently left the White House to work with Musk full time and the couple had regularly socialized with Musk outside of work. That lead to gossip among White House aides and rounds of speculation about how the fallout could impact the political fortunes of one of the most powerful couples in Trump’s Washington.
Katie Miller did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk at one point fact checked his own AI chatbot Grok, which appeared to confirm as authentic a viral image that seemingly showed Musk writing a post that appeared to say “Just like I took your wife” in response to Miller.
“No, it’s fake ffs 🤦♂️ I never posted this,” Musk wrote in response to Grok.
That doesn’t mean it was all back to positive vibes from Musk this weekend. He continued to speak out – albeit in a more subtle manner – against Trump’s domestic policy bill that passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate.
On Sunday Musk replied “Correct” to a user who wrote “Musk’s fight with Trump is neither a stunt nor distraction.” The same day he also reposted an article from the satirical site The Babylon Bee, titled “Republicans Announce Plan To Keep Doing Opposite Of What Everyone Voted For Them To Do.”
Musk had blasted the president’s sweeping “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” last week, arguing it would undermine much of what his Department of Government Efficiency team had done to cut federal spending and the deficit. The Trump administration had denied that the bill would add to the deficit, despite numerous nonpartisan organizations saying it would add trillions of dollars to America’s debt.
But Wall Street analysts are so far breathing slightly easier – as they hope whatever delicate détente holds out.
“While we do not expect Trump and Musk to be back to their Mar-a-Lago connected at the hip days, it would not be a surprise to see Trump and Musk slowly mend the fences (with the help of intermediaries behind closed doors) over the coming months,” wrote WedBush analyst Dan Ives. “[A]t the end of the day Trump needs Musk to stay close to the Republican party and Musk needs Trump for many reasons including a green light on a federal framework for autonomous [vehicles].”
Tesla’s stock rose 4.6% Monday but still remains well below where it started Thursday before the public breakup.
On Monday afternoon Trump also sounded a slightly softer tone on Musk.
“We had a good relationship, I wish him well, very well,” he told reporters during an event at the White House.
But he did not say whether he would pick up if Musk called.
“I haven’t really thought about it actually. I would imagine he wants to speak to me, I would think so,” Trump said.
