--- title: "“Very Serious Consequences”: Trump Issues New Threat to Elon Musk" description: "President Donald Trump made renewed threats, warning in an interview that Elon Musk would \"pay very serious consequences.\"" date: "2025-06-09" modified: "2025-06-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/trump-issues-new-threat-elon-musk" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "jared isaacman" --- # “Very Serious Consequences”: Trump Issues New Threat to Elon Musk ![President Donald Trump made renewed threats, warning in an interview that Elon Musk would "pay very serious consequences."]() *\Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images\* All hell [broke loose]() last week when billionaire Elon Musk and president Donald Trump's once-flourishing bromance [collapsed in dramatic fashion](). An [ugly spat]() over the president's so-called "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill spilled into the public, with Musk showing up to his own farewell party earlier this month with a [mysterious black eye](). And judging by Trump's comments on over the weekend, the pair aren't any closer to burying the hatchet. On Saturday, the president made renewed threats, warning in an [interview with *NBC News*]() that Musk would "pay very serious consequences" if he were to jump ship and start funding Democrats. When asked if his relationship with Musk was over, Trump had a simple answer. "I would assume so, yeah," he said. It's been a whirlwind of a couple of days, marked by an escalation of a feud that has apparently been simmering for months now. The news comes after the Trump administration [pulled the nomination]() of NASA administrator hopeful and billionaire SpaceX tourist Jared Isaacman, after Trump reportedly got wind of the fact that he had previously made donations to Democrats. The move was largely seen as retribution. Isaacman was closely allied with the Musk, throwing fuel on the fire of his departure and angering the SpaceX CEO. In quick succession, Trump [threatened to terminate]() all of Musk's government contracts. Then, Musk [declared]() he'd cut off NASA's access to space, [implicated the president]() in the "Epstein files," and called for him to be impeached in three since-deleted tweets. A night of stewing in their respective beds later, Trump [smugly told the press]() on Friday that he's "not even thinking about Elon." On Saturday, though, Musk still seemed to be taking up a lot of Trump's headspace. "I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful," Trump told *NBC News*. "You could not disrespect the office of the President." Despite major political turbulence and a number of Republicans siding with Musk to oppose the president's tax and immigration bill, Trump claimed that the "Republican Party has never been united like this before." "It's never been," he told *NBC News*. "It's actually more so than it was three days ago." But judging by the still-escalating feud — we have yet to even get the full grasp of its fallout — that would likely be a major overstatement. Vice president JD Vance, meanwhile, has been watching in horror from the sidelines. During an [interview with podcaster Theo Von](), which was recorded on Thursday and released on Saturday, he resorted to stating the obvious. "I think there’s just some frustrations there," he said. "But I really, man, I think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that." **More on the spat:** *[The Head of Tesla’s Humanoid Robot Program Says That He DEFINITELY Wasn't Fired and Is Only Leaving to Spend Time With His Family, Not Because Elon Musk Is on the Warpath]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()