One Elon Musk associate said he expects the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to "do everything to damage" President Donald Trump following the two men's public fallout.
Musk, who spent nearly four months heading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency until leaving the administration in late May, has criticized the president's "one big, beautiful bill" for not sufficiently reducing spending.
The two men even got into a nasty online spat, with Musk saying sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's records had not been released by the Justice Department due to Trump being mentioned. Musk later apologized for his remarks, saying they "went too far."
However, neuroscientist Philip Low warned that Musk is power hungry and prone to seeking revenge, Politico reported.
"I've had my share of blowouts with Elon over the years," said the 45-year-old Low, who once fired Musk from the advisory board of the Silicon Valley startup he founded.
"Knowing Elon the way I know him, I do think he's going to do everything to damage the president."
Low predicted Musk could seek revenge behind the scenes. "It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," Low told Politico.
Low added that any Musk reconciliation with Trump will be transactional and "purely cosmetic."
"He has been humiliated," Low said of Musk. "The whole idea that Elon is going to be on [Trump's] side and help woo Congress and invest in election campaigns for right-wing judges — Elon might do all of that, but deep down, it's over."
Low said that Trump "tends to make up with his former sparring partners like [Steve] Bannon a bit more easily than Elon does."
According to Low, he and Musk became friends after first meeting in 2011 at a social occasion in Paris. The relationship truly soured after Low accused Musk on social media of performing Nazi salutes at Trump's inaugural rally.
Musk tried to repair his relationship with Trump after being urged to do so in a call from Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
However, Musk, during this past weekend, doubled down on his distaste for Trump's sprawling tax and spending cuts bill, arguing the legislation that Republican senators are scrambling to pass would kill jobs and bog down burgeoning industries.
"The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country," Musk wrote Saturday on X ahead of a procedural Senate vote to open debate on the nearly 1,000-page bill. "It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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