With Musk now potentially out of the picture, a new tech exec could slide into the president's DMs and the Oval Office.

The relationship between Mr. Trump and tech industry power brokers was built on money and the promise of deregulation, with Mr. Musk in the middle of it all.

Trump appeared to threaten Musk, as he posted on his Truth social media platform Thursday that, “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”