Musk and Trump, ostensibly political allies over cuts to federal spending, publicly clashed on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters. The origin of the dispute is the impact Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill has on U.S. public debt.

Bannon called for Musk to be deported as an illegal immigrant and for Trump to seize his company SpaceX, some Russian officials ironically suggested that Musk could seek asylum in Russia, joining the likes of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek,

If Musk ever did expatriate to Russia for asylum, he could find himself in even more danger, as critics of Putin often end up dead or imprisoned.