Trump threatens Musk would have to go home to South Africa as feud heats up

Trump threatens Musk would have to go home to South Africa as feud heats up originally appeared on TheStreet.

The public feud between President Donald Trump and tech tycoon Elon Musk took a different turn on July 1 as Trump said that without subsidies, Musk would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.

The spat escalated after Musk criticized Trump's flagship big, beautiful bill for allegedly raising the tax ceiling by $5 trillion.

Musk isn't the only industry leader to criticize the bill. Leaders from the crypto industry have also found the bill lacking in many aspects.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) crypto exchange, earlier warned if Congress doesn't reduce the burgeoning national debt, Bitcoin might become the world's reserve currency.

Musk even went on to reiterate his call for the need for a new political party in the U.S.

Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus, known as Shibetoshi Nakamoto or @BillyM2k on X, decried the lack of a "moderate" political party in the country.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Musk knew about his stand regarding the electric vehicle (EV) mandate long before the presidential endorsement. While electric cars are fine, nobody should be forced to own one, he added.

Musk's Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) is one of the leading EV makers in the world. The company holds more than $1 billion in Bitcoin on its balance sheet, making it the eighth-largest public corporate holder of Bitcoin.

Trump continued that Musk may have received more subsidy than anybody in history, and without them, he would have to shut shop and go back to South Africa.

The president even warned that the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) should perhaps monitor Musk's businesses:

"BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!"

Notably, it was Trump who had appointed Musk as the de facto head of D.O.G.E. — the department tasked with lowering government expenditure — in January. As Musk quit the department toward the end of May, the disagreement between two of the world's most powerful men came to the fore.

Crypto market reacts

The crypto market reacted sharply to Trump's latest tirade against Musk.

As per Kraken's price feed, Bitcoin dipped from $107,118.79 to $106,846.34. Ethereum also fell from 2,476.94 to $2,456.38.

While XRP dipped from $2.2281 to $2.2196, Solana fell from $152.95 to $151.37.

Dogecoin, the ticker of which is the same as the acronym of the department that Musk once led, also fell from 0.1641 to $0.1624.

The total crypto market cap stood at $3.29 trillion, down 1.13% a day.

Trump threatens Musk would have to go home to South Africa as feud heats up first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 1, 2025

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.