Vice President JD Vance warned that Elon Musk is making a “huge mistake” by targeting former President Donald Trump in a wave of bitter and inflammatory social media attacks following their fallout.
In an interview released Friday, Vance described Musk’s harsh criticism as the outburst of an “emotional guy” frustrated by the situation.
“I hope Elon eventually comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear,” Vance said.
His remarks follow recent calls from other Republicans urging the former allies, who once spent significant time together, to reconcile.
Musk’s torrent of social media posts attacking Trump came as the former president portrayed him as disgruntled and “CRAZY” and threatened to cut government contracts held by Musk’s businesses.
Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, lambasted Trump’s centerpiece tax cuts and spending bill but also suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed, without evidence, that the government was concealing information about the former president’s association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Look, it happens to everybody,” Vance said in the interview. “I’ve flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.”
Vance made the comments in an interview with “manosphere” comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the U.S. Navy when he opened for Trump at a military base in Qatar.
The vice president told Von that as Musk called on social media for Congress to kill Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” the former president was “getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained because the president doesn’t think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk.”
“I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine,” he added.
Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein.
The interview was taped Thursday as Musk’s posts were unfolding on X, the social media platform the billionaire owns.
During the interview, Von showed Vance Musk’s claim that Trump’s administration hasn’t released all records related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them.
Vance responded, “Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn’t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.”
“This stuff is just not helpful,” Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance.
“It’s totally insane. The president is doing a good job.”
Vance called Musk an “incredible entrepreneur” and said Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was “really good.”
The vice president also defended the bill that has drawn Musk’s ire and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump’s first term.
The bill would slash spending but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a “disgusting abomination.”
“It’s a good bill,” Vance said. “It’s not a perfect bill.”
He also said it was ridiculous for some House Republicans who voted for the bill but later objected to parts of it to claim they hadn’t had time to read it.
Vance said the text had been available for weeks and added, “The idea that people haven’t had an opportunity to actually read it is ridiculous.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Vance laughed as Von cracked jokes about famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ sexuality.
“We’re gonna talk to the Smithsonian about putting up an exhibit on that,” Vance joked. “And Theo Von, you can be the narrator for this new understanding of the history of Frederick Douglass.”
The podcaster also asked the vice president if he “got high” on election night to celebrate Trump’s victory.
Vance laughed and joked that he wouldn’t admit it if he did.
“I did not get high,” he then said. “I did have a fair amount to drink that night.”
The interview was taped in Nashville at a restaurant owned by musician Kid Rock, a Trump ally.
