US President Donald Trump is expected to award billionaire Elon Musk the National Medal of Science on Thursday, amid signs that the head of Tesla, SpaceX and X is returning to the administration’s inner circle after a sharp and public dispute between the two men in 2025.
Fox News quoted informed sources as saying that Musk had regained his position close to the administration, while a former official said that his relationship with Trump had resumed. The two men grew closer during the 2024 US presidential election before Musk joined the Trump administration to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, known by the acronym DOGE, with the aim of reducing federal spending.
Musk’s resignation and escalating dispute with Trump
But Musk left his post in May 2025, four months after taking it up, amid disagreements with Trump over spending linked to legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. Musk attacked the bill on X on 3 June 2025, calling it a “disgusting abomination”, then wrote the following day: “Kill the bill.”
Trump responded on social media, saying that Musk was beginning to annoy him, and added that he had gone “crazy” after the administration moved away from what it described as the “hidden electric vehicle mandate” dating back to former US President Joe Biden’s administration. The exchange marked an advanced stage of the dispute, which quickly shifted from economic policy to personal accusations.
Musk said Trump would not have won the 2024 election without his financial support, which amounted to about $300 million and was provided through his affiliated US political action committee. He accused the president of “ingratitude” and also claimed, without providing evidence, that Trump appeared in the Epstein files.
Reports of Musk’s exclusion and return
Fox News quoted a former White House official as saying that Musk was excluded from the White House after the dispute and that his office was cleared out along with those of other staff members. A current Trump administration official, however, denied that Musk had been completely excluded, while informed sources said he had begun regaining his standing with the president earlier in 2026.
The current official said Musk had recently been seen inside the White House, attributing this partly to his fulfilment of financial commitments to support Republican candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. The moves come after Musk was one of the Republican Party’s and Trump’s campaign’s most prominent donors.
Musk has appeared at several White House events in recent weeks, including the launch of a new US government website in late September. He also attended the state dinner held for Chinese President Xi Jinping, sitting at President Trump’s table in a scene that reinforced signs of improved relations between the two men.
The Trump administration is grateful for the contributions of these remarkable leaders in science and technology, and these honourees are helping to ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in innovation
Musk’s appearances pave the way for improved relations
The beginnings of the public dispute between Trump and Musk date back to 2 April 2025, when the US president introduced new tariffs aimed at reshaping the global economy. The decision angered Musk, who expressed his dissatisfaction on X and made personal appeals to Trump to cancel the tariffs. The crisis flared up again in mid-April 2025 over the budget bill.
Musk described the proposed legislation as a “disgusting abomination”, while Trump called it a “big, beautiful” bill and viewed it as a landmark of his second term. Opposition lawmakers subsequently began urging Musk to fund challenges against Republicans who supported the bill. As the dispute intensified, Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser during his first term, called for an investigation into Musk’s legal status and his immediate deportation.
Bannon told The New York Times last year: “I firmly believe Musk is an illegal immigrant and should be deported from the country.” Bannon referred to reports that Musk had worked illegally in the United States before obtaining citizenship.
In an episode of his programme Bannon’s War Room, he called for Musk’s deportation, saying: “You’ll bring the others back, let’s start with the South Africans, right?” Bannon also said that Trump had given Musk unprecedented support but that Musk had “turned on him”, adding: “This is a bad person.
He is incompetent, and we warned you about him.” At the height of tensions with Trump and his allies, Musk hinted at the possibility of forming a third political party that he said would “represent 80% of the middle class”, before his recent White House meetings and the expected honour indicated that communication between the two men had resumed.
