"The man who has lost his mind," is how Trump described Elon Musk indicating there is no mending the breakup between the partners in the immediate future.
Donald Trump has told US media outlet ABC News that he is "not particularly" interested in speaking to the tech billionaire yet. In a phone interview with the US news outlet Trump described Musk as "the man who has lost his mind."
"You mean the man who has lost his mind?" he asked, saying he was "not particularly" interested in talking to him right now.
He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he's not ready to talk to Musk.
Trump then talked for a couple of minutes about other things -- referring to inflation (down), foreign investment (up) and his plans for a visit to China (huge), an ABC News report said.
People close to Trump have described him as more sad than angry at Musk. One adviser who was with Trump on Thursday night said he seemed "bummed" about the breakup. And that's the way he sounded on Friday morning.
Trump also told CNN that he is “not even thinking about” Musk and won’t be speaking to him in the near future.
“I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump was quoted as saying.
However Musk has suggested that he may de-escalate his public row with Donald Trump after their spectacular falling out.
The Tesla chief executive signalled he might back down on a pledge to decommission the Dragon spacecraft – made by his SpaceX business – in an exchange on his X social media platform. He also responded positively to a call from fellow multibillionaire Bill Ackman to “make peace” with the US president.
Politico also reported overnight that the White House has scheduled a call with Musk on Friday to broker a peace deal after both men traded verbal blows on Thursday, The Guardian reported.