Trump lashes out, calls Musk “crazy”
Former allies, Trump and Musk, exchanged sharp accusations after Trump claimed Musk went “crazy” following the removal of the electric vehicle (EV) mandate. “I asked him to leave,” Trump said, adding that Musk “just went CRAZY” after losing government support for electric vehicles.
Trump said he was disappointed: “I’ve aided him significantly. Look, Elon and I had a fantastic rapport. I can’t say if that will continue. I was taken aback.”
He also accused Musk of failing to raise any objection earlier about his administration’s tax cut and spending bill. “He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it,” Trump claimed.
Trump went a step further by threatening to cancel all government contracts and subsidies linked to Musk’s companies. “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!”
Trump blamed Musk’s criticism on the rollback of EV tax credits. “Elon is upset because we implemented the E.V. mandate, which was a considerable sum for electric vehicles, and they’re struggling—the electric vehicles—and they expect us to provide billions in subsidies. Elon was aware of this from the outset. He has known this for quite a while. That’s been consistent from the start.”
Musk fires back, calls Trump ungrateful
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Musk denied knowing anything about the bill, saying, “This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”He also claimed to have helped Trump politically. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”
Calling Trump’s attitude “such ingratitude,” Musk endorsed online calls for Trump’s impeachment. When a user posted “Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him,” Musk replied “Yes”.
In another post, Musk hinted at deeper allegations, saying the “real reason” the sealed Epstein files have not been made public is because they include Trump.
Reacting to Trump’s threat of cancelling contracts, Musk announced, “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.” However, a few hours later, he changed his stance. After a user advised him to cool off, Musk responded, “Good advice. OK, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
Market impact and wider implications
The clash between Trump and Musk, both major figures in American politics and business, triggered concerns among investors. Tesla’s 14% stock dip and the $152 billion drop in market capitalisation underline the financial fallout from political-business tensions. The situation may also impact ongoing government deals with Musk-led ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX.
