Trump ramps up feud with Elon Musk, claiming he could have made Musk drop to his knees and beg for help when he was president

• Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his feud with billionaire Elon Musk.
• Trump claimed he could have made Musk beg for his help when he was president.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his feud with billionaire Elon Musk in a series of Truth Social posts.

On Tuesday evening, Trump penned three posts hitting out at Musk, just a day after Musk tweeted that it was time for the former President to "sail into the sunset."

"When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it's electric cars that don't drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he'd be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it," Trump claimed in a post, appearing to criticize at least two of Musk's companies, Tesla and SpaceX.

Trump also seemed to gloat over the Twitter lawsuit that Musk has become embroiled in.

"Now Elon should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he could owe $44 billion for something that's perhaps worthless. Also, lots of competition for electric cars!" Trump wrote.

Trump did lend Musk a hand while he was in office. For instance, in 2020, Musk received Trump's backing to defy the local authorities and re-open his California Tesla factory amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Musk appeared unfazed by Trump's insults on Tuesday. In response to a Twitter user who tagged Musk in a screenshot of Trump's post on Tuesday, the billionaire responded with a tweet of his own, stating: "Lmaooo."

Musk followed up his response with a mocking animated image of "The Simpsons" character, Grampa Simpson, appearing to yell and wave his fist out a window.

—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022

The recent spat between Musk and Trump began after the former president called Musk a "bullshit artist" at a rally over the weekend, accusing the billionaire of lying about voting for him in 2016.

In response, Musk tweeted that he did not "hate" Trump but thought it was time for the former president to "hang up his hat."

Musk said in June that he would likely back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024. However, neither Trump nor DeSantis has officially declared that they plan to run, despite being hot favorites for the race.

Representatives for Musk at SpaceX and Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.