From left, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, seen during a campaign event in September. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Natalie Allison

While Elon Musk fired off social media posts excoriating and insulting him, President Donald Trump sought to keep the situation from escalating further, instructing his vice president to take a careful approach to how he addressed the topic publicly. Subscribe for unlimited access to The Post You can cancel anytime. Subscribe

Trump didn’t want to fully burn the bridge.

As Vice President JD Vance prepared to leave the White House on Thursday to head to Nashville — where he would fundraise and record a high-profile podcast in which Trump knew the Musk situation would come up — Trump gave Vance

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