Trump-Elon Musk fallout: president shuns call with ex-ally — latest

Times

a day ago

Elon Musk's posts on X attacking Trump were 'surprising and disappointing', Mike Johnson, the House speaker, said.
Johnson told CNBC in an interview on Friday that he was with the president as the fight was unfolding on social media, and that the president was 'disappointed'.
Referring to Musk's criticism of the One Big Beautiful Bill, Johnson said: 'I don't argue with him about how to build rockets, and I wish he wouldn't argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it.'
The speaker also played down Musk's claims that he had been responsible for the Republican Party's election victories in November.
'Elon was a big contributor in the last election, but this was a whole team effort,' Johnson said. 'I mean, President Trump is the most consequential political figure of his generation, of modern American history. He is the one responsible for that.'
Trump is expected to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday night, according to a report.
The president is a longtime fan of mixed martial arts and a close friend of Dana White, the UFC chief executive. In November, Trump sat ringside at a UFC event at Madison Square Garden in New York with Elon Musk and Kid Rock, the singer and Trump ally.
Saturday's UFC 316 will feature a five-fight main card headlined by a title rematch between current bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, of Georgia, and the American former champion Sean O'Malley.
Attention is turning to how Trump could retaliate against Musk. He said yesterday that 'the easiest way to save money in our budget' would be to cut all federal contracts with Musk's companies, which were promised about $3 billion in government contracts last year.
Steve Bannon, Trump's former adviser, said on his War Room podcast that Trump should take control of SpaceX through legislation from the Korean war that allows the president emergency authority to seize control of domestic industries.
Bannon also urged the president to investigate Musk's drug use and his efforts to be briefed on classified military plans involving China. He further called on Trump to revoke Musk's security clearance and begin deportation proceedings against the South African-born Tesla chief executive, who has been a naturalised US citizen for more than two decades.
• Musk 'took so much ketamine campaigning it damaged his bladder'
Tesla shares rose by more than 6 per cent at the opening bell today, after the electric vehicle company shed more than 14 per cent on Thursday, losing more than $150 billion in market value.
Trump threatened to slash all government contracts held by Musk as they exchanged insults yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all rose by just under 1 per cent after the US added 139,000 jobs in May.
Errol Musk, the father of Elon, has described the feud between his son and Donald Trump as 'over the top', likening it to a clash between 'gorillas' fighting for dominance.
Musk, 79, advised his 'alpha' son, 53, to accept that the president was the more dominant of the two and would 'win this round'.
'In any successful group of animals, whether gorillas, elephants or human beings, the dominant males will always fight for dominance,' Musk said, predicting that an eruption of bitter exchanges between two of the world's most powerful men 'would now fizzle out'.
• Read in full: Errol Musk weighs in
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, has weighed in on the Trump-Musk row with an apparent joke.
'We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D [Donald] and E [Elon] for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment,' Medvedev said, referring to Musk's satellite company. 'Don't fight, guys!'
Musk insinuated yesterday that Trump was withholding files related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring because they implicated the president.
How did Trump and Epstein really know each other?
JD Vance, the vice-president, has pushed back on claims that Trump's feud with Musk was rash or ill-planned.
'There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he's impulsive or short-tempered,' Vance wrote on X. 'Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that's ridiculous. It's (maybe) the single biggest disconnect between fake media perception and reality.'
Late on Thursday night, Vance voiced his support for the president in his battle with Musk, saying he was 'proud to stand beside him'.
Trump is planning to sell off or give away the red Tesla Model S that he bought from Elon Musk after he showcased five of his vehicles at the White House in March, according to Fox News. Trump said he paid by cheque for the car, which has been visible in the car park at the White House complex and was used by various members of his staff.
'The one I like is that one and I want the same colour,' he said, pointing at the model during an event on March 11 that drew alarm at a sitting president using the trappings of office to promote a private company. The Model S is listed on the Tesla website for $73,490, or $88,490 for the all-wheel-drive Model S Plaid.
• Read more: Trump backs Musk by buying a Tesla (that he can't drive)
Trump has torn down every opponent who has stood in the way of his political ambitions. In Musk, he may have met his match.
The formidable powers that these two American titans can bring to bear in a full-throated feud suggest that a truce is the most sensible outcome. But sense was in short supply during a pyrotechnic clash of planetary-sized egos this week that may have ramifications far beyond terrestrial confines and reach into both men's ambitions to conquer space.
• Read David Charter's analysis in full
Trump will not be speaking to Musk for a while, CNN reported after speaking to the president, dampening speculation of a potential peace-making call today.
'I am not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem,' Trump told the broadcaster in a phone call, it reported. But he 'wishes Elon well', CNN reported.
President Trump has shown little interest in responding to Elon Musk's overtures to reach a truce. The two men torched their previously close relationship in a few short hours on Thursday in an escalating war of words conducted on their social media networks Truth Social and X.
Musk is said to have sought a phone call with Trump to try to smooth over their differences. However, Trump told ABC News's Jonathan Karl that he was 'not particularly interested' in speaking to Musk and that the South African-born billionaire was 'a man who lost his mind'.