US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have somewhat repaired their relationship after a spectacular falling out — and much of the credit appears to go to US Vice President JD Vance.
The vice-president is said to have played a key role in brokering peace between the two men, who had increasingly been at odds since Trump’s return to the White House in January.
But what exactly happened? And why does it matter?
Let’s take a closer look.
What we know
According to _The Washington Post_, Vance in February invited Musk for a private dinner at the Naval Observatory. The two men had shared a close relationship even before Vance’s ascent to the vice-presidency, rooted in overlapping political and donor circles.
They remained in frequent contact in the months that followed, often speaking several times a week. This backchannel remained open even as Musk’s relationship with the Trump administration began to fray in mid-2025.
That strain emerged as several figures in Trump’s orbit — including lawmakers and senior White House officials — found themselves increasingly at odds with the billionaire.
“He’s used to being the emperor,” a Musk associate told the _Post_. “But he wasn’t treated with much respect in Congress. And he doesn’t do politicking.”
At the same time, Musk’s influence within the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and broader conservative media ecosystem continued to grow — complicating matters for the White House.
US President Donald Trump has reached a wary ceasefire with Elon Musk. Reuters
Tensions deepened after Trump rescinded the nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman as Nasa administrator. The reversal reportedly came after White House aide Sergio Gor informed Trump that Isaacman had previously donated to Democrats.
Musk responded by publicly attacking Trump’s flagship “One Big Beautiful Bill” on social media. Vance then stepped in, quietly approaching Maga-aligned lawmakers and urging them to back Isaacman’s nomination as a way of repairing the rupture.
This effort met resistance from some inside the administration, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who at the time was serving as acting Nasa chief.
The breaking point
The situation escalated further as the administration continued to delay the release of the long-awaited Epstein files. When Musk publicly claimed in June that Trump appeared in those files, it marked a serious rupture — one that many in Trumpworld saw as crossing a red line.
It was again Vance who attempted to contain the damage.
“Look, it happens to everybody. I’ve flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours,” Vance was quoted as saying. “I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold.”
Vance in June told reporters that he had spoken to both Musk and Trump about trying to make sure Musk was supportive of the president, adding that the Trump team was grateful for what Musk did early in the process of making government more efficient.
Around the same time, Musk announced plans to launch a new political party — the “America Party”. Trump responded by saying Musk had “gone off the rails” and threatened his government contracts.
The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. File image/AP
The prospect of a Musk-backed third party alarmed Republicans. Musk had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump’s 2024 campaign, and party strategists feared a splinter movement could fracture the conservative vote and benefit Democrats.
Vance began reaching out to Musk’s allies in an effort to stabilise the situation. He publicly praised Musk as an “incredible entrepreneur”, and said that Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” was “really good”.
“Whenever Elon talks, there are only two possibilities,” one associate told the Post. “He’s either telling you what he wants you to do — or what he is going to do — or he is trying to be funny. I didn’t interpret [the third-party announcement] as funny.”
Musk eventually abandoned the idea. Associates said there was no realistic path forward in a political system dominated by two parties, an outlook experts agree with.
“It would be extremely unlikely for a new major party to form. The structure of the US political system tends towards two major effective parties, and the structure would need to be changed in order to give more parties a real chance,” Collin Anderson, PhD, political scientist at the University at Buffalo, was quoted as saying.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk eventually abandoned his third party idea. Reuters
Musk later said he regretted some of the social media posts he had made about Trump, saying they had gone “too far”, a gesture the US president described as “very nice”.
The reported assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk later that year — which sent shockwaves through the right — also appears to have refocused Musk’s political instincts back towards the Republican fold.
By September, the two sides had effectively reached a ceasefire. In November, Musk was seen attending a White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Reports soon followed that Trump was again preparing to support Republican candidates in the upcoming midterm elections — a critical test for the remainder of his presidency.
The removal of Sergio Gor from the equation also helped ease tensions. “Gor’s ouster made it easier for everyone to go back to liking each other,” one source told the Post.
Why it matters
JD Vance is widely considered to be in the race for 2028. He understands better than most what the backing of the world’s richest man can mean in modern American politics.
Musk, for his part, appears to relish his growing role as a political power broker. “He enjoys kind of that kingmaker role,” a source said. “Part of being a kingmaker is making sure everybody in the world knows you’re the king.”
With inputs from agencies