Gavin Newsom's four-word riposte to Elon Musk after billionaire launched blistering attack against him and decided to move his Tesla and X headquarters to Texas over governor's new gender identity laws - as workers brace for job cuts

Elon Musk and California Governor Gavin Newsom are caught up in a war of words after the billionaire announced that he will move SpaceX and X headquarters to Texas over Newsom's new gender identity laws. 

The spat first began when Newsom clapped back at Musk on X, writing: 'You bent the knee', on Tuesday, along with a screenshot of a 2022 Tweet by Donald Trump criticizing Musk. 

This was in response to 52-year-old Musk's decision to move the X and SpaceX headquarters to Texas after he said that Newsom's signing of a law that bans California school districts from notifying parents if their child is transgender was 'the final straw'. 

'Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas,' he wrote on X. 

Now, Musk has retaliated, commenting on Newsom's  X post: 'You never get off your knees'. 

'I did make it clear to Gov. Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.'

Musk later added that the social media site will also be moving its headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, saying he has 'had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building.'

Newsom's post included Trump's Tweet about the tech billionaire, where the former president suggested he was the reason for musk's success. 

'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 wrote back in 2022.

Musk had also suggested on Tuesday that 'many will follow' and noted that 'Silicon Valley has shifted.'

The billionaire has already moved Tesla's headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin after Alameda County officials would not let him re-open the plant under coronavirus restrictions - despite Newsom announcing that manufacturers could restart operations.

He followed through on the promise about a year later, lauding Texas' lack of an income tax and the abundance of housing in the area - though he announced he would still maintain Tesla's 'engineering headquarters' in California.

Musk himself had even moved to the Lone Star state in 2020 after living in California for two decades and has already been in the process of moving SpaceX to Texas as he spoke out against California's liberal policies.

The tech billionaire's plans to move X and SpaceX headquarters out of California to Texas has sparked concerns about hundreds, if not thousands, of people losing their jobs, ABC7 News reported. 

Musk has rallied against the use of preferred pronouns - often mocking the practice on social media and dismissing it as part of a 'woke' agenda that is dangerous for society.

Musk is the father of a trans daughter from whom he is estranged, and he blames her California private school education for making her politically far left and turning her against him.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been on the opposite side, however, often championing these woke ideals - even though he, too, has moved his family out of one of the state's largest cities and into an exclusive area.

This comes after the billionaire CEO officially endorsed Trump as his pick for president following Saturday's shooting calling the Republican former president 'tough'. 

Musk, who is the world's richest person, posted the endorsement with a video of Trump with blood on his face pumping his fist after multiple shots rant out at his presidential rally. 

The posts cemented Musk's shift towards right-wing politics and hands Trump a high-profile backer in his quest to return to the White House in the November 5 election.

'I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,' Musk posted on his social media platform X.