Trump threatens Musk with deportation, the billionaire responds: what is the main “backbone” of the conflict
3 July 2025 13:41
on July 1, speaking to journalists before leaving the White House, US President Donald Trump suggested that he might initiate consideration of the deportation of American entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX.
After being asked by the press whether Musk could be expelled from the country given his public criticism of the administration, Trump replied:
“I don’t know. We’ll have to figure it out.”
He also hinted that the government agency DOGE (Department of Government Effectiveness), which Musk himself once helped create, could be used against Musk.
“We may have to set DOGE against Elon. Do you know what DOGE is? It’s a monster that can turn around and swallow Elon,” Trump joked.
Musk overestimated his strength
Managing partner of the National Anti-Crisis Group, political strategist Taras Zagorodniy commented on the escalation of the public conflict between Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump in an exclusive commentary for "Komersant Ukrainian". According to the expert, this is not a personal confrontation, but a consequence of deeper processes in the US political system.
According to Zahorodnyi, there is no question of personal friendship between players like Musk and Trump. Everything is based on cold calculation.
“There is no friendship at this level, with such political decisions and financial scale. There is only interest, whether useful or not. Musk really did a lot for Trump to become president. He was a media and personal resource. But he’s already recouped everything, both through capitalization and government contracts,” the expert explains.
Zagorodniy believes that Musk’s main problem is a misunderstanding of political processes. As a technician and entrepreneur, he mistakenly perceived the state as a business.
“Elon Musk overestimated himself a bit. He did not understand the logic of political struggle. I said from the very beginning that he would be quickly ‘drained’. Musk is a great engineer, but he doesn’t know history, he doesn’t understand that one person cannot have direct and constant access to the president. Political heavyweights like Rubio simply pushed him away,” Zagorodny said.
According to the political scientist, Musk, as a businessman, did not realize that the state operates under different rules, in particular, in the interests of all citizens, not individual players.
“Musk treated the state as his own corporation. But politics has different rules – there are social issues, institutions, and responsibility. He didn’t take this into account, nor did he take into account the effect of the accumulation of scandals,” Zagorodnyi says.
Trump doesn’t think Musk is to blame
The expert also drew attention to the fact that Musk’s ambiguous statements about Ukraine were negatively perceived even in the Republican camp.
“His statements about Ukraine confused not only the public but also the Republican Party itself. This also played against him,” he explained.
Zagorodny also emphasizes that Trump is acting solely from a position of political survival.
“Trump does not believe he owes anyone anything. Did Musk help? Good for him. Did he make money? Great. But this does not mean that Trump will continue to play on the same team with him. He has his own game, his own interest,” the expert said.
As for the potential emergence of a new political force led by Musk, the expert is skeptical.
“I do not believe that Musk will be able to create a third political force. It is unrealistic. Instead, I believe more in the collapse of the Democratic Party – there are indeed signs of a systemic crisis there,” summarized Taras Zagorodniy.
Earlier, Musk harshly criticized the Trump administration’s tax and budget bill, calling it a “disgusting, corrupt lobbying machine.” He also said that without his public support, Trump would have lost the presidential election.
In addition, Musk publicly linked Trump to the scandal surrounding financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexual crimes against minors. In response, Trump called Musk a “psycho” and threatened to deprive his companies of government subsidies and contracts.
Subsequently, Trump wrote on social media that without the generous government subsidies that Musk enjoys more than anyone else, he “would have to close the business and go home to South Africa.”
