Vance voices loyalty to Trump but says he 'understands' Musk's frustration

Vice President Vance says he's "loyal" to President Trump, but also voiced praise for billionaire Elon Musk and described Musk's criticism of Trump's sweeping budget bill as "understandable."

Vance's comments came on social media and during a podcast appearance with comedian Theo Von posted on Saturday.

Vance weighed in during a week when the feud between Trump and Musk was escalating rapidly and the vice president appeared eager to stake out a middle ground. The interview reportedly took place on Thursday, with Von and Vance posting on social media that day about their conversation.

"My loyalties are always going to be with the president," Vance told Von. But he also described Musk as an "incredible entrepreneur" and added that "DOGE was really good, this sort of effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse in our country was really good."

DOGE is a controversial cost- and bureaucracy-cutting effort launched by the Trump administration, with Musk as the guiding force. Last month, Musk announced his departure from government, though the DOGE will continue to function.

Posting Friday and early Saturday on the social media platform X, which he owns, Musk seemed uninterested in finding middle ground with Trump.

He blasted the Republican budget bill backed by the president, arguing the measure, passed by the House and now being considered by the Senate would result in unsustainable debt for the U.S. government and taxpayers.

"Congress is bankrupting America," Musk wrote. He also suggested that his followers could break with Trump and the GOP, calling for the creation of a new political party.

"The people have spoken. A new political party is needed in America to represent the 80% in the middle!" he said.

Posting on his own social media platform Truth Social, meanwhile, Trump defended his budget plan, which independent analysts within the federal government say will result in soaring deficits over the next decade. "I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago," Trump wrote.

"This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress," he added. In other posts, Trump suggested Musk "went crazy" and said the "easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts."

Asked by Von during the podcast appearance why Musk had broken ranks so publicly with Trump over the spending bill, Vance said, "I get the frustration there."

"I understand, like, it's a good bill, it's not a perfect bill. The process in D.C., if you're a business leader, you probably get frustrated with that process," Vance said.

Last July, NPR reported that Vance rose to prominence in part with the support of tech billionaires, including Musk.

But posting on X on Thursday, Vance said he believes Trump has "earned the trust of the movement he leads," and added, "I'm proud to stand beside him."

Speaking with Von, the vice president said he feared Musk's personal attacks on Trump — calling for the president's impeachment and linking Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, in a tweet that was later deleted — would be difficult to walk back.

"I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Vance said.

Speaking Friday on NPR's Morning Edition, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon also voiced the view that the relationship between Musk and Trump's MAGA movement is permanently damaged.

"He crossed the Rubicon by this outrageous comparison to the Epstein files, about saying President Trump should be impeached, replaced by JD Vance," Bannon said.

Speaking with NBC News in an interview broadcast on Saturday, Trump said Musk would face serious consequences if he backed Democratic candidates in future elections.

"He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump said.

Musk's companies rely heavily on federal contracts and subsidies.

The U.S., meanwhile looks to Musk's company Space X for a wide range of services. Musk was also Trump's biggest campaign donor in 2024 and has used his social media platform X as a megaphone for conservative causes.

Speaking with Von, Vance acknowledged that the break-up between two of the most powerful men in the world could have far-reaching implications:

"I think that if [Musk] and the president are in some blood feud, most importantly it's going to be bad for the country, but I don't think it's going to be good for Elon either."

Vance also disputed Musk's claim the president might be implicated in wrongdoing linked to Epstein, who socialized with Trump in Florida and New York and later died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting a federal trial on child sex-trafficking charges.

"Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein," Vance said, adding, "that's total B.S."

Copyright 2025 NPR