Tesla CEO Elon Musk has struck back at former President Donald Trump after the latter offered mocking criticism of his decision to pull out of negotiations to buy Twitter last week.

“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” wrote Musk on Twitter on Monday night in response to a clip of Trump’s remarks at a weekend rally in Anchorage, Alaska.

Appearing before a throng of his supporters, Trump panned Musk for getting "himself a mess" by trying to extricate himself from his plans to purchase Twitter. Musk, who set out to purchase Twitter in May, has justified his decision to withdraw from the takeover bid over what he insists is Twitter's refusal to share complete data on the number of bots on its platform. Twitter has since threated to sue Musk to complete the purchase, setting the stage for a heavyweight legal battle.

Musk and Trump have always been strange bedfellows at best in their dealings, though they both consider themselves leading defenders of free speech, controversial culture warriors and were considered two of some of the most notorious Twitter users before Trump was banned from the platform after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riot.

Musk's upset with Trump comes after he recently declared that he would be backing Republicans in the November midterm elections over his disdain for President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Last month, Musk announced he followed through on this pledge by casting his first vote for Republican congressional candidate Mayra Flores. He also has made clear a preference for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a widely discussed rival to Trump, to run against Biden.

Despite musing over his own plans to run in 2024, Trump appeared to take personal umbrage at Musk over his conversion to the Republican Party.

“He said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican,’” Trump said at his rally. “I said, ‘I didn’t know that,’” Trump continued. “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another [expletive] artist.”

Musk was undeterred and made his own riposte, tweeting that he felt Trump, 76, would be unfit for the presidency given his age. He also reiterated his support for DeSantis as his preferred challenger to Biden in the next election.

"Trump would be 82 at the end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America. If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn’t even need to campaign," said Musk.

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