❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Trump slammed Elon Musk over electric vehicle subsidies in a Truth Social post.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Donald J. Trump and Elon Musk.
📍WHEN & WHERE: July 2025, on Trump’s Truth Social account.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.” – Donald Trump
🎯IMPACT: The post revives Trump’s criticism of EV mandates and questions Musk’s business sustainability without federal support.
President Donald J. Trump posted a fiery message on Truth Social targeting tech mogul Elon Musk and the Biden government’s electric vehicle mandates. Trump emphasized that opposition to the EV push has been a longstanding component of his political platform, describing the federal mandate as “ridiculous.”
“Electric cars are fine,” Trump said, “but not everyone should be forced to own one.” He accused Musk of benefiting from what may be the largest subsidies ever awarded to a private individual and suggested the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s ventures would collapse without government handouts.
The former president even said Musk might have to “close up shop and head back home to South Africa” in the absence of subsidies, calling into question the viability of Musk’s business empire without taxpayer backing.
Trump sarcastically proposed, “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard look at this?”—a reference that likely alludes to either the Department of Government Efficiency, set up under Musk, which delivered almost no savings in comparison to Musk’s original promise of $2 trillion.
In reality, DOGE likely saved around two days of taxpayer spending a year, with some estimates claiming the department and its actions have actually cost the taxpayer due to severances involved with termination packages.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump even went so far as to say “we’ll have to look at” deporting the South African billionaire, adding, “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?”
🔥🔥 Reporter: Are you going to deport Elon Musk?
Trump: We'll have to take a look. We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is, the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon, wouldn't that be terrible. He gets a lot of subsidies. pic.twitter.com/CwIHLykUab
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 1, 2025
The backhander from Trump came less than a day after Musk appeared to endorse a critic of Trump ally and potential next UK Prime Minister, Nigel Farage.
Musk, who once called for Farage to be deposed as head of the Reform UK party, backed a new movement by British Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe, another anti-Farage figure who tried to have the Brexit champion removed as party leader. Musk and Lowe’s efforts inevitably failed.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.