United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump and his former ally, multibillionaire Elon Musk, ultimately did not speak on Friday as previously reported, a day after exchanging insults and criticism on their respective social media platforms.
U.S. media had earlier on Friday reported that White House officials had scheduled a phone call between the Republican president and Musk, citing unnamed sources.
The White House then said that there would not be a call on Friday after all.
Such a conversation could have eased the dispute after a day of trading insults, mostly via social media – Musk’s X and Trump’s Truth Social.
Musk had the day before suggested that Trump would not have won last year’s election without him, stated that the president is listed in the Jeffrey Epstein files, the powerful man accused of trafficking underage girls, and called for the Republican’s impeachment. Trump responded with insults, saying Musk had “gone crazy” and that state aid to his companies should be cut.
Tesla shares fell 14 percent on Thursday, or 150 billion dollars in market value – the largest single-day drop in the history of the car company.
Musk financed a large part of Trump’s campaign and then entered the administration as his ally and as head of the DOGE agency for cutting public sector costs.
The public dispute between the president and the richest man in the world began a few days ago after Musk criticized the Republican tax and state spending law, claiming it would increase the U.S. debt.
