This week, Trump has said Musk would have to "close up shop and head back home to South Africa" if he halted government subsidies to his companies, and then later added that his administration would "have to take a look" at deporting Musk.

The seriousness of the break became clear after Musk began teasing the founding of a third party, apparently in disgust at the passage of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

“We do not believe that the richest resident should receive special exceptions before or after they break the rules, which is a concerning trend for this individual's operations across our entire stat...