President Donald Trump has

President Donald Trump has publicly threatened to deport Elon Musk  thus escalating a bitter feud between them. This came after Musk criticized Trump’s recent $4 trillion tax and spending bill, calling it "insane" and warning it would harm the U.S. economy and national debt. Trump responded by suggesting Musk, who was born in South Africa but became a U.S. citizen in 2002, might have to "go back home" without government subsidies that support his companies Tesla and SpaceX. Trump said, “We’ll have to take a look” at deporting Musk and hinted that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) might investigate Musk’s subsidies, saying, “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon”.

Al Jazeera reports that  legally, Musk cannot be deported easily since he is a naturalized U.S. citizen; denaturalization is possible only under rare circumstances such as fraud during naturalization or serious crimes, neither of which applies here. Experts confirm that revoking Musk’s citizenship would be a complex and unlikely process.

Musk responded to Trump’s threats on social media with a calm but pointed message: “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now”.

The feud marks a sharp break from their previous relationship, as Musk was once a major donor and supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign. The conflict centers largely on Trump’s bill removing electric vehicle subsidies, which Musk says undermines the clean energy industry and U.S. leadership in that sector. Musk has also called for the creation of a new political party, the “America Party,” in response to what he sees as bipartisan failure