Donald Trump has described his estranged former “first buddy” Elon Musk as someone with “80 percent super-genius” and “20 percent problems.”
The president has rarely discussed the bitter split between himself and the billionaire ex-DOGE boss that began after Musk disagreed with the contents of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” the Tesla CEO posted in June.
The week after leaving his role in the Trump administration, Musk then posted on his X platform that Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” He later deleted the post, but the fallout went nuclear.
Addressing his split with Musk during a radio interview with The Scott Jennings Show aired on Wednesday, Trump claimed that while the 54-year-old was a “super-genius” in many ways, Musk still had his flaws.
Musk “got off the reservation incorrectly, and... he wished he didn’t do it,” Trump said.
The president appeared still to have a soft spot for the Tesla billionaire, telling Jennings that he is “a good person.”
“He’s got 80 percent super-genius, and then 20 percent he’s got some problems,” Trump said. “When he works out the 20 percent, he’ll be great.”
Trump added that Musk has “got some difficulties,” without naming specifics.
“But I like him, I always liked him, I like him now,” Trump continued.
The Daily Beast has contacted representatives for Musk for comment.
Jennings also asked Trump if there was a chance of reconciliation between Musk and the Republican Party, and if the two men had been in touch.
While Trump seemed to dodge the question on whether they’d been in contact, he picked up on Musk’s political future with the GOP.
“I don’t think he has a choice,” Trump said. “So what’s he going to do, he’s gonna go with the radical left lunatics? They’re lunatics. I don’t think he has a choice. He’s a man of common sense, he’s a good man.”
MAGA mouthpiece Jennings posted on X, “These are two brilliant men and great Americans. I, like millions of others, really would love to see them get the band back together soon.”
The new comments from Trump are a turnaround from an interview in June. When asked by NBC if his relationship with Musk was over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.”
He also warned Musk—who donated over $250 million to Trump’s presidential campaign—against financially backing Democratic candidates to run against the Republicans who backed his spending bill.
“He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” Trump told NBC.
Musk floated the idea of starting his own political party in July i, move then as a continuation of his feud with Trump. He posted that if Trump’s “insane spending bill” passes, he would form his party to give America “an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”
The billionaire even let his X users pick the name of the party in a post on July 4, saying, “Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!”
After the majority of his followers chose the America Party name, Musk wrote on X, “You want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
However, Musk has not mentioned the America Party since the start of July. A report last month claimed Musk had put his plans for the party on hold and was considering backing JD Vance if he ran for president in 2028.
