Tech billionaire Elon Musk has appeared to publicly back President Donald Trump’s response to protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles — just after the two feuded on social media and in the Oval Office.
Musk had first posted two American flag emojis on X on Sunday, in response to a post from Vice President JD Vance re-upping Trump on Truth Social.
“This moment calls for decisive leadership. The president will not tolerate rioting and violence,” Vance wrote on X on Sunday.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said he will be directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi to “liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.”
“Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free,” Trump wrote.
Musk then posted a statement directly from Trump’s Truth Social account.
“Governor Gavin Newscum and ‘Mayor’ Bass should apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done, and this now includes the ongoing L.A. riots. These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists. Remember, NO MASKS!” Trump wrote on Sunday night.
One user replied to his post, “you jumping back on the Trump Train?” and another user asked, “are you friends again??”
Musk also posted a photo of a protester holding the Mexican flag while standing on a vandalized self-driving car, while another car burned in the background.
“This is not ok,” he wrote.
Tensions escalated in Los Angeles on Sunday after Trump deployed at least 300 California National Guard troops to respond to the protests — in a move to protect federal property. It appears to be the first time in decades that the president has instructed a state’s National Guard to take action without the governor’s permission.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) slammed Trump over his decision to deploy troops, and on Sunday, called on his administration in a letter to rescind their “unlawful deployment.”
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
Trump, early Monday morning, called for additional troops to be sent to the city in a post on Truth Social, writing that it is “looking really bad in L.A.”
During an interview with NBC News, Newsom said he had talked with Trump on Friday night, when the protests first started, and he “wanted to talk about all these other issues.” He noted that Trump “never once” pointed to deploying the National Guard.
“I’ve always wanted to approach engagement with the president of the United States in a respectful and responsible way. But there’s no working with the president. There’s only working for him. And I will never work for Donald Trump,” he said.
The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring Compton.
Musk’s sudden switch up in support of Trump comes after they appeared to sever their relationship last week after the world’s richest man, who has since departed the administration, criticized the president’s “big, beautiful bill” in a barrage of social media posts. Trump told reporters on Friday that he was not “particularly interested” in talking to Musk, and called him “a man who has lost his mind.”
Since they both exchanged back-and-forth jabs, Musk has deleted one of his biggest claims against Trump. Citing no evidence, he accused the president of being in Jeffrey Epstein’s files, a reference to government documents tied to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stories by Rachel Cohen
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