Donald Trump Lashes Out at Elon Musk, Says Tesla CEO Could "Beg for Help on His Knees" in Oval Office Meeting

As the former president ignored the most recent revelations from January 6 in order to intensify his dispute with the Tesla billionaire, Donald Trump claimed that he could make Elon Musk "down on his knees" and "beg" for help.

As Twitter sued the owner of an electric vehicle for canceling his $44 billion purchase of the social media site, Trump turned to Truth Social.

Donald Trump vs. Elon Musk

Shortly after the committee meeting on January 6 heard that he had attempted to contact a witness in the investigation and that the Department of Justice had been contacted, the one-term president attacked the richest man in the world on Tuesday.

And he made fun of Elon Musk for his recent legal spat with Twitter, which he had earlier this year agreed to purchase. The day before, Trump mocked SpaceX's CEO for suggesting that the Republican politician should "hang up his hat & sail into the sunset."

Musk tweeted to his 100 million followers that he would back Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over Trump in 2024 and that he had just recently started voting Republican.

According to The Independent, Trump's post is the most recent attack he has launched on the tech mogul since Elon Musk's failed attempt to take over Twitter. The former president sounded jubilant that the takeover was not going forward in a statement on July 8 on Truth Social, the social media platform he created after being barred from Twitter following the attack on January 6, 2021.

The next night, Trump made fun of the unsuccessful campaign while branding Musk a "bulls**t artist" during a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, as per Newsweek. Musk responded to Trump's accusations that he had stated that he had supported him in the last election in a series of tweets on Monday, writing "not true" next to a portion of the words that had been shared by the Bongino Report account.

Along with the "sail into the sunset" remark, Musk also suggested in a different tweet that Trump is too old to run for president again. Musk also rejected the idea that Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, should run as Trump's running mate in the upcoming election before he himself runs for office in 2028.

Musk has already attacked Trump, and this time is no exception. Trump wasn't the "right guy" to be president, Musk said on the night of the 2016 election. Despite this, Musk joined Trump's "Strategic and Policy" advisory council for his upcoming government a month later before departing in protest at Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord in June 2017.

Elon Musk Expresses Support For Ron DeSantis

Trump and Musk haven't always had a tense relationship. Trump compared Musk to Thomas Edison in a January 2020 interview with Squawk Box and called him "one of our great geniuses." A few months later, in May 2020, Musk thanked Trump on Twitter for supporting the CEO's intentions to revive Tesla's California auto factory despite COVID-19 limitations.

Per Daily Mail, Trump's claim that Musk lied about supporting him during his disastrous 2020 presidential campaign set off the attack. The statement was made in reference to Musk's Tweet from last month, in which the South African entrepreneur boasted that he had voted for a Republican for the first time, choosing new Texas Congresswoman Maya Flores.

At the Alaska event on Saturday, Trump appeared to take issue with the endorsement and charged Musk of lying about his political affiliation. Meanwhile, Musk surprised the world in May when he declared he would change his political party for the next election, citing leftist bias on Twitter as the reason.

Musk stated he would be switching his vote when speaking via video connection at a tech gathering in Miami, Florida, in May that was organized by the All-In podcast. DeSantis is a rising political star who has been likened to former President Trump because of his views but lacks the legal and political baggage that is typically associated with the outspoken New Yorker.

In the meanwhile, Musk has appeared to take a fancy to him. Musk tweeted last year that he had discussed building tunnels under Miami with DeSantis in order to reduce traffic congestion. DeSantis has endorsed Musk's bid for Twitter. DeSantis made a jest about Musk's South African origins when discussing the news of his prospective support at a conference in Madeira Beach last month.