Is billionaire Elon Musk secretly ‘retaliating’ against Mr. Trump?

In an interview with Politico, Philip Low – a former close friend of Mr. Elon Musk – warned that the billionaire would “not easily let go of his feud with Mr. Trump”, and may “be quietly preparing for a retaliation”.

Silicon Valley founder and renowned neuroscientist Philip Low (left) – a former close friend of Elon Musk (right) – Photo: POLITICO

In a rare interview with Politico following the tense developments in the relationship between billionaire Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump , technology founder and famous neuroscientist Philip Low warned:

“Mr. Elon is not the type to give up easily. He will find any way to retaliate. Mr. Elon Musk, as far as I know, will do everything to hurt the president,” Mr. Low shared with Politico .

It is known that Mr. Philip Low has known and collaborated with billionaire Elon Musk for more than a decade. Based on personal experience, he described this billionaire as a person obsessed with power, prone to holding grudges and always looking for ways to overwhelm opponents.

From best friend to enemy

Billionaire Elon Musk was once considered a strong supporter of Mr. Trump in the 2024 presidential election. After Mr. Trump was re-elected, Mr. Musk also actively participated in political activities.

However, the relationship between the two has recently seriously cracked. They openly criticized each other on social networks, marking an undisguised breakdown.

Although the two later announced that they had “reconciled,” according to neuroscientist Philip Low, that was largely a formality: “Elon felt humiliated. His public support for Trump was tactical. In his heart, it was over.”

Mr. Low commented that billionaire Musk is not easy to forgive and is likely to retaliate secretly and indirectly: “The question is not whether Elon will retaliate, but when.

“Many people close to him tell me that Elon has changed, but I don’t believe it. I saw that side of him years ago – he’s more comfortable showing it now. And it’s defining him now.”

Mr Low also said that these tendencies made Mr Musk a “special case” in Silicon Valley, where he has clashed with co-founders such as Peter Thiel (PayPal), Martin Eberhard (Tesla) and Sam Altman (OpenAI).

“Mr. Elon has a familiar pattern: if he cannot gain control of a company, he will set up a rival company to compete,” Mr. Low compared.

“Play defense”

Elon Musk has now returned to focusing on his personal projects. Although few people in the technology industry dare to openly criticize Musk, Philip Low said there are still many people who secretly do not support the billionaire.

“Many people are afraid because their company’s leadership has financial ties to Mr. Elon Musk, or has benefited from deals related to him. If they speak up, they fear retaliation,” said Mr. Philip Low.

In addition, while closely monitoring Mr. Musk’s movements, including the billionaire Musk’s move to share a negative drug test result to refute rumors of using ketamine. According to Mr. Low, this is a sign that Mr. Musk is still “defensive” and “cannot let go”:

“I think Elon Musk is worried that government contracts could be canceled, and that the drug could be weaponized against him — so he’s trying to build a defense early on.”

In addition, Mr. Musk’s continued public criticism of President Trump’s bill on June 28, along with his calls for support from political opposition, raises potential risks of this never-ending conflict.

From there, Mr. Philip Low concluded that Mr. Elon is “a real political threat”, and gave advice: “President Trump has not yet realized the seriousness of this confrontation. So one way to reduce the influence of Mr. Elon Musk is to accept some of the policies that he (Elon Musk) proposes”.

Mr. Musk continued to publicly criticize President Trump’s bill on June 28 – Photo: X/@elonmusk

However, it should be noted that Mr. Philip Low’s comments are personal opinions based on his own experiences and observations, not insider information or evidence of Mr. Musk’s actual action plans.

Mr. Musk’s actual actions so far have been mainly public criticism of policy, with no legal, financial or campaign moves aimed at directly “harming” President Trump outside of the media front.

So if you want to be objective, distinguish between Philip Low’s personal opinion and Elon Musk’s actual actions. Continue to follow the information on major news agencies to update new developments, instead of relying solely on the opinion of an individual.