Forgiveness or Fuhgeddaboudit: Should Donald Trump Bring Elon Musk Back?

Yes, it’s a real word. As Johnny Depp explained in “Donnie Brasco”:

And ever since the Musk-Trump relationship devolved into bitter, nasty “Epstein Island” recriminations on social media, it’s the question countless conservatives are asking themselves: Forgiveness… or fuhgeddaboudit?

Should Elon Musk and Donald Trump kiss and make up? Or has Musk proven himself too flippin’ unstable and/or disloyal to be welcomed back?

There’s an awful lot riding on the answer.

Most conservatives probably favor a reconciliation. After all, the Trump-Musk alliance has already reaped vast dividends, including total control of the federal government. With apologies to Hillary Clinton, Trump and Musk were “stronger together” than apart.

Can’t we get the band back together, man?!

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT.) tweeted what many conservatives were thinking:

But … I really like both of them pic.twitter.com/NPZrCCEHht

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 5, 2025 

Elon Musk has seemingly signaled a willingness for rapprochment. He deleted his X post about Trump being in the Epstein file and, according to media reports, has tried to schedule a phone call with the president. (Interestingly, Musk still kept his post where he claimed sole credit for the 2024 election.)

But President Trump isn’t interested in détente. At least not yet.

On Capitol Hill, most of the GOP has overwhelmingly sided with Trump:

Troy Nehls, a GOP representative from Texas, captured the tone, addressing Musk before television cameras: “You’ve lost your damn mind. Enough is enough. Stop this.”

It chimed with the sentiments of many others. “Nobody elected Elon Musk, and a whole lot of people don’t even like him, to be honest with you, even on both sides,” Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey congressman, told Axios.

“We’re getting people calling our offices 100% in support of President Trump,” Kevin Hern, a representative from Oklahoma, told the site. “Every tweet that goes out, people are more lockstep behind President Trump and [Musk is] losing favour.”

Greg Murphy, a North Carolina Republican, called Musk’s outburst of social media posts – that included a call for Trump’s impeachment, a forecast of a tariff-driven recession and accusation that the president is on the Jeffrey Epstein files – “absolutely childish and ridiculous”. Musk had “lost some of his gravitas”.

Elon Musk is fabulously wealthy, of course — and in American politics, money is power. But his power has limits:

Republicans were balancing the strength of Trump’s voice among GOP voters versus the power of the increasingly unpopular Musk’s money – and most had little doubt which matters most.

“On the value of Elon playing against us in primaries compared to Trump endorsing us in primaries, the latter is 100 times more relevant,” Axios quoted one unnamed representative as saying.

Another said: “Elon can burn $5m in a primary, but if Trump says ‘that’s the person Republicans should re-elect,’ it’s a wasted $5m.”

You can’t out-president the president. Not even Musk can do that. The Tesla CEO won’t win a power struggle over Donald Trump for the hearts and minds of Republican voters, and it was hubris writ large to assume otherwise.

But it’s also unfair to limit Musk’s actions to hubris. I take him at his word: He’s legitimately dismayed by the growth of the federal budget and horrified by the Big Beautiful Bill. It’s not a put-on or an act; these are his authentic, God’s-honest beliefs.

If you’re wondering if this is a WWE-style “play-fight,” where Musk and Trump are choreographing their body-blows — perhaps to help Tesla recover its market zeitgeist with liberal car-buyers — I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is 100% on the level. If Musk wanted to pivot back to the left, he wouldn’t have done it by moving to Trump’s right.

Instead, he would’ve broken with the GOP over environmental issues, or something else that liberals support. Pivoting to the left by demanding more DOGE-style cuts doesn’t make any sense. In fact, during the first Trump term, Musk actually cited the environment as his reason for quitting:

Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

Nonetheless, the authenticity of Musk’s convictions is less relevant than the impact of his actions. Whether he’s motivated by hubris, sincerity, or something in between, President Trump still has a job to do. And just as Musk has the right to voice his displeasure, the White House has certain constitutional powers as well.

Among those powers: Using Musk as a political foil.

In many ways, it’s unfair to Musk. He spent billions to buy Twitter/X, which greatly benefited conservative speech. Then he donated hundreds of millions to help get Donald Trump elected. After the election, he sacrificed Tesla’s value by spearheading DOGE, becoming the public face of (unpopular) budget cuts.

Meanwhile, the Democrats made a pivot of their own: In Wisconsin, they finally realized it was a helluva lot easier to run against Musk than Trump:

Musk’s approval ratings consistently lag behind Trump’s, and the president has repeatedly had to defend his senior adviser as Democratic messaging has coalesced around criticism of Musk as an unelected “oligarch.”

“He’s becoming electoral poison,” said Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster. “The Democratic Party is going to make Elon a central issue in its messaging, as it should, and Democrats are getting better at focusing on what matters to voters, which is the threat he poses to entitlements.” [emphasis added]

Throughout the campaign, Democrats strategically positioned Musk as the primary antagonist, framing his substantial financial contributions as an attempt to “buy” the election. Judge Crawford and her supporters emphasized this narrative in their messaging, portraying Musk’s involvement as an unprecedented assault on democracy. [emphasis added]

Which helps explain Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)’s “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. It was one of the few liberal bright spots since the 2024 election.

What would be more Trumpian than stealing the “Fighting Oligarchy” issue from the Democrats by fighting the oligarchy better than they ever could?!

There’s speculation President Trump will escalate this feud. You can even gamble on Musk’s new nickname:

Ego/Egocentric/Egomaniac Elon	5/1
Mad Musk	6/1
Odd/Oddball Elon	7/1
Addict/Addicted Elon	8/1
Autism/Autistic	10/1
Megalomania Musk	10/1
Weird/Weirdo Elon	10/1

But I suspect the smartest move for Trump — and the best way to handle the situation — is to put Elon Musk in timeout for a little while.

That’s what you do when a toddler throws a temper tantrum.

Look, even if there was merit to Musk’s grievances (and there are), his tactics, approach, and outcome were outrageously inappropriate. The Big Beautiful Bill passed 215 to 214! It took every last GOP vote — and the untimely deaths of multiple Democrats(!) — just to get it over the finish line.

If this is the hill Musk wants to die on, that’s his choice. But if the votes aren’t there, it’s a senseless death. 

No matter how much he screams, posts, or threatens, he’s not gonna get what he wants.

The. Votes. Are. Not. There.

Elon Musk isn’t the only billionaire on the planet. Jeff Bezos — of Amazon, the Washington Post, and Blue Origin — would love an opportunity to cozy up to the White House. So would Sam Altman of OpenAI. And Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

If I were Trump, I’d be curious what they’d offer me in Musk’s absence. Wouldn’t you?

Besides, by holding your powder with Musk, you’re giving him an opportunity to make amends on his own. He’s still an extraordinarily brilliant man — one of the most successful business leaders who’s ever lived — and if he truly wants to return to Team Trump, I’m sure he’s smart enough to figure out a path back. He made this mess; he can solve it, too.

If he can figure out rockets, electronic cars, and space satellites, he can figure out this.

So no. Trump shouldn’t forgive Musk. At least not yet.

But he shouldn’t totally forget him, either. ‘Cause eventually, this is a band worth reuniting. Can you imagine the beautiful music Musk and Trump could still make together? Can you imagine how much better the world would be?

Fuhgeddaboudit!

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