Elon Musk’s Apology to Trump Won’t Fix Their ‘Pure Avoidance’ Relationship: ‘Trump Doesn’t Forget’ (Exclusive Sources)

Elon Musk may have walked back parts of his recent social media tirade against President Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean the two have mended things behind the scenes.

Sources tell PEOPLE that the former allies’ relationship has soured beyond repair.
“It sort of evolved from love to transactional to now pure avoidance,” a political source says.
“And Trump doesn’t forget,” the source adds. “He may say something acceptable for public consumption, but after what Elon wrote on social media, and despite his apology, Trump’s relationship with Musk will never again be the same.”

A separate source in Trump’s orbit adds that Musk is on “so far from good terms with Trump.”

“Nobody trusts you again after you go that nuclear,” the second source explains.

On May 30, Trump and Musk held their final Oval Office press conference together as the Tesla CEO stepped away from his role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk’s departure was always a strong possibility, as the tech billionaire was on a 130-day contract as a “special government employee.”
On Musk’s last day, Trump told reporters that he hoped his outgoing adviser would continue to be involved with the administration in some capacity. However, Musk almost immediately began burning bridges after stepping foot outside the White House.

The following week, Musk took to X with a days-long rant against Trump and his administration, calling the president’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” a “disgusting abomination,” taking credit for his 2024 election win and even accusing him of burying the Jeffrey Epstein files to avoid incriminating himself — an allegation that the X owner later deleted.

When asked for a reaction to Musk’s posts on June 5, Trump said he was “very disappointed.”

“Elon and I had a great relationship,” he said, using the past tense. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”

In a post just after 3 a.m. ET on June 11, Musk began to walk back his social media tirade. He said he’d started to “regret some of my posts about President [Donald Trump],” adding that a few of his comments “went too far.”

While Trump told the New York Post that he thought Musk’s pseudo-apology was “very nice,” he continued to hint at their fractured relationship on June 12, while signing a congressional resolution to overturn California’s electric vehicle mandate.

Speaking to Musk’s role as CEO of Tesla, Trump said he was surprised that the EV mandate wasn’t a bigger issue for his billionaire backer from the outset of his campaign.

“I used to say, ‘I’m amazed that he’s endorsing me because that can’t be good for him,’ ” the president recounted. “He said, ‘Well, as long as it’s happening to everybody, I’ll be able to compete.’… It was a very interesting answer.”

Trump said in his June 12 remarks, “Elon doesn’t like me,” but then laughed it off and retracted the statement.

The president had previously hinted that Musk’s opposition to the “Big, Beautiful Bill” did have to do with the EV mandate, however, he backed off that statement as well.

“He got a little bit strange, but I don’t know why,” Trump said of the spat, “over much smaller things than that.”

According to many of his X posts, Musk’s criticism of the government spending bill boils down to the trillions it is expected to add to the national deficit, which would undo any savings Musk’s work with DOGE brought the administration.

“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both,” Musk previously told CBS Sunday Morning.