The Week in Musk: Regrets

(Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Not long after launching a series of indignant and accusatory broadsides at Donald Trump last week, Elon Musk began to show signs of regret. On X, he deleted a post calling for Trump's impeachment and another one that implicated the president in the crimes of a notorious pedophile. He then approvingly shared a Truth Social post from Trump justifying his decision to send federal troops to quell protesters in Los Angeles. By Wednesday morning, Musk had moved on to public acts of contrition.

"I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week," he wrote. "They went too far."

The apology came after Musk called Trump on Monday to speak to him directly for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities, according to the New York Times. Trump only spoke to Musk after Vice President J.D. Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles phoned Musk over the weekend, urging him to make nice. Musk, in turn, took down the two most provocative remarks he had written about Trump. However, he left up other offending posts, including one that described Trump as ungrateful and insisted that he would have lost the 2024 election without his help, a claim that particularly irked the president.

As for Trump, he responded to Musk's apology during a short call with the New York Post on Wednesday, saying, "I thought it was very nice that he did that."

The comment came after a longer Monday interview, also with the Post, in which Trump sounded unsure of his relationship with Musk moving forward. "Things like that happen. I don't blame him for anything but I was a little disappointed," he said. Asked whether he would ever reconcile with Musk, Trump replied, "I guess I could, but we have to straighten out the country. And my sole function now is getting this country back to a level higher than it’s ever been."

Indifference toward Musk was still an improvement from how Trump felt over the weekend, when he was threatening Musk with "serious consequences" and hinting at his drug "problem." (On Monday, when asked whether he thought Musk was using drugs while working out of the White House, Trump said, "I really don't know. I don’t think so. I hope not.")

Musk pivots back to the right

As his feud with Trump was cresting last week, Musk flirted with creating a "new political party" that would represent Americans "in the middle." Some Democratic lawmakers were receptive to the idea of a deradicalized Musk. "Having Elon speak out against the irrational tariff policy, against the deficit-exploding Trump bill, and the anti-science and anti-immigrant agenda can help check Trump’s unconstitutional administration," Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, told Semafor. "I look forward to Elon turning his fire against MAGA Republicans instead of Democrats in 2026."

But Musk's only appeal to the political "middle" came in a string of posts championing the power of solar energy. "I agree, but there's a lot of empty desert that could have solar!" he said on Wednesday after Trump's secretary of agriculture vowed not to let farmland be overtaken by solar farms.

Musk, meanwhile, appears to have no desire to leave the political home he built over a year of campaigning for Trump and then serving in his administration. This week, he tried to reinforce his conservative credentials by using his X account for anti-immigrant fearmongering. "Vast, unvetted immigration will destroy any country," he wrote on Thursday. He has also ceased his criticisms of Trump's "big, beautiful" reconciliation bill, the cause of his split with the president. Musk spent much of last week decrying the bill as an "outrageous, pork-filled, disgusting abomination" and threatening to "fire all politicians who betrayed the American people" by voting for it, a group that would include nearly every House Republican.

Tesla stock recovers from record losses but sees downgrades

Musk has previously brushed off concerns about Tesla's fundamentals, including its declining sales figures, by pointing to its share price. But his falling out with Trump caused the automaker to post its worst-ever one-day market-cap decline. It shed about $237 billion in market value on June 5 after Trump threatened Musk's companies. This likely contributed to Musk's remorse.

Tesla began to recover after Musk halted his attacks on Trump, thanks in part to the company's devoted army of retail investors and fans. The stock was up 6.85% for the week on Thursday. But on Wall Street, Tesla saw downgrades from two firms that cited lasting damage from the Musk-Trump blowup. "Looking ahead, we are concerned that the war of words between President Trump and Elon Musk, along with expiration of EV credits, could further weaken demand for new Teslas," Argus Research analysts wrote in a note. Commenting on the stock's recent gains, Argus Research, which downgraded the stock to hold from buy, said Tesla "appears to be currently trading on non-fundamentals." Ben Kallo, an analyst at Baird, also downgraded Tesla to hold. "The recent incident between Musk and President Trump exemplifies key-person risk associated with Musk’s political activities," Kallo wrote.

In other Tesla News:

• On X, Musk said that Tesla's robotaxi beta debut in Austin is "tentatively" set for June 22. "We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift," he added. "First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28." Tesla was originally aiming to launch its semi-autonomous cab service in Austin on June 12. One test car has already been spotted cruising the city's streets.

• Tesla is teasing a new Model Y that would seat seven. The company previously offered a seven-seater option but pulled it from the market following limited demand.

• Milan Kovac, the head of Tesla's Optimus humanoid project, is leaving the company. "I've been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad. I want to make it clear that this is the only reason," Kovac said in a statement. Musk has predicted that the Optimus product will be worth up to $25 trillion for Tesla.

SpaceX launch in Texas leads to miles of polluted coastline

The last test flight of SpaceX's colossal Starship rocket sent debris flying across the Gulf of Mexico, polluting miles of coastline around Southeast Texas. The waste that washed ashore appears to be from the Super Heavy booster, the reusable first stage of Starship, which splashed down in the Gulf after SpaceX failed to retrieve it intact during the May 27 launch.

"I personally inspected 40 kilometers of beach, and the findings were shocking: clearly, millions of plastic fragments are reaching the shoreline," Conibio Global A.C., a local conservation group, wrote in a Facebook post documenting the pollution. "This puts the entire marine ecosystem at high risk."

Roughly 1000 feet from the Starship launch site is Boca Chica beach, a nesting ground for the Kemp’s ridley, the rarest and most critically endangered sea turtle species in the world. Kemp's ridleys nest and lay their eggs from April through mid-July, the same time that SpaceX conducted its last failed Starship launch. "Without a doubt, our eight years of efforts to protect the Kemp’s ridley… are now facing maximum risk," Conibio Global A.C. noted. "In just a few days, hatchlings will begin to emerge, and we will be forced to release them on a beach covered in harmful debris, which they might mistake for food."

Starship is the largest rocket ever made. It burns about 7.5 million pounds of fuel while blasting off, charring nearby flora and destroying local wildlife habitats. The FAA recently authorized SpaceX to conduct 25 Starship launches per year from the facility that abuts Boca Chica beach.

In other SpaceX news:

• The Department of the Air Force released a draft impact statement asserting that no negative environmental impacts would result from SpaceX taking over the Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch pad was previously used by the United Launch Alliance, SpaceX's chief rival. SpaceX now appears to have the inside track to demolish ULA's fixtures and repurpose the site for Starship launches, pending approval from the Department of Defense.

• A fuel leak on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has caused the Axiom-4 mission to be delayed indefinitely. The research mission, commissioned by the space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, was set to send four private astronauts to the International Space Station for roughly two weeks. When it does launch, Axiom-4 will feature the final Crew Dragon reusable spacecraft that SpaceX intends to produce.

• In a 2 a.m. post on Friday, Musk called for the retirement of the International Space Station: "There are potentially serious concerns about the long-term safety of the [ISS]. Some parts of it are simply getting too old and obviously that risk grows over time. Even though SpaceX earns billions of dollars from transporting astronauts & cargo to the ISS, I nonetheless would like to go on record recommending that it be de-orbited within 2 years."

• United Airlines has disabled Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service, on its planes due to static interference. The airline described the issue as "fairly common" and said it was still on track to offer free Starlink Wi-Fi on all of its two-cabin regional planes by the end of the year. The service was first offered to United passengers last month following a limited rollout.

SpaceX's Starlink fails to meet FCC minimum despite doubling speed

New analysis from Ookla's Speedtest found that Starlink has doubled its performance in the U.S. since 2022. In the first quarter of 2025, Starlink had a median download speed of 104.71 megabits per second (Mbps), up from 53.95 Mbps in 2022. Median upload speeds jumped to 14.84 Mbps this year, up from 7.50 Mbps in 2022. In roughly the same timeframe, SpaceX added about 6,000 satellites to its low-earth orbit constellation.

But Starlink's median upload speed still does not meet the minimum broadband requirement set by the Federal Communications Commission. Last year, the FCC raised its benchmark for high-speed fixed broadband to 100 Mbps for download speeds and 20 Mbps for upload speeds.

Still, the Trump administration has continued to push for Starlink to receive a larger share of funding from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, a $42.5 billion project. From the Center for American Progress:

On June 6, 2025, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration published its BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice, which introduced a new so-called tech-neutral approach that replaces a preference for high-speed, reliable, and long-term scalable technologies. While satellite internet can at times be the appropriate solution, the Trump administration is clearly pushing it aggressively to benefit Starlink.

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Musk Minutes

The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department monitored foreign nationals who met with Musk in 2022 and 2023. The investigation was related to Musk's role as head of SpaceX, a key contractor for the Department of Defense. His relationships with foreign nationals also led to ethics concerns within the super PAC Musk used to support Trump's campaign last year. (Wall Street Journal)

India's Department of Telecommunications has granted Starlink a commercial operating license following three years of negotiations between Musk and New Delhi. However, before operating in the country, Starlink must receive another regulatory license from the country's National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre. (Reuters)

The Boring Company, Musk's transit and tunneling startup, is in talks with state officials in Tennessee to construct an up to 10-mile-long tunnel connecting downtown Nashville with the city's airport. The talks have been ongoing for several months and could result in Nashville receiving a tunnel similar to what Boring has built below the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Nashville Business Journal)

On Monday, Morgan Stanley opened its sale of $5 billion in xAI debt to smaller lenders than the bank had originally targeted, a sign that Musk's uncertain relationship with Trump has weakened his appeal on Wall Street. (Bloomberg)