
Trump seeking alternative to Musk's SpaceX
Once close allies during the 2024 election campaign, Trump and Musk have had a dramatic falling out in recent months. The rift began over Trump's $5 trillion 'big, beautiful' budget bill, which Musk publicly opposed. In response, Trump accused Musk of benefiting excessively from federal subsidies and threatened to strip SpaceX of its government contracts.
SpaceX has played a central role in US defense communications through its Starlink and Starshield satellite systems, and was expected to build key components of the Golden Dome. Reuters reported in April that the company was a frontrunner for the project, alongside Palantir and Anduril.
However, Trump is apparently following through on his threat to take away Musk's contracts, according to the latest Reuters report. Officials at the Pentagon and White House are now allegedly courting other companies to reduce reliance on Musk's firm.
Amazon's Project Kuiper has reportedly been approached by the administration, despite having launched only a fraction of its planned satellite constellation. Other firms under consideration include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, and smaller rocket startups such as Rocket Lab and Stoke Space.
Despite the shift, Reuters notes that SpaceX may still handle certain parts of the $175 billion program, especially satellite launches, given its record of more than 9,000 Starlink deployments and vast procurement experience.
The breakdown in relations between the two men continued last month when Trump proposed that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk formerly led, should investigate his government subsidies.
'Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,' Trump wrote on Truth Social, claiming the US could 'save a fortune' by cutting ties with his companies.
Musk responded by warning that the president's spending plan would 'bankrupt the country' and pledged to launch a new political movement, the America Party, to disrupt the Democrat-Republican 'uniparty' in Congress.
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And to show its appreciation of such a fine, evenhanded 'deal,' the EU sweetened it by throwing in some extras as if there is no tomorrow. Like at one of those late-night TV direct sales shows. Only that the EU slogan is not 'order immediately and…' but 'ruin us right now and get an extra $1.35 trillion just to make us even poorer and you even richer!' That $1.35 trillion consists of two promises of direct EU tributes (yes, that is the correct, real term) to Washington: an additional – as Trump stressed – $600 billion which EU companies, surely dizzy with gratitude, will invest in the US; and $750 billion of especially dirty and expensive American LNG (liquefied natural gas) which they will buy to feed into whatever will remain of European industry. Meanwhile, Trump is making concessions – again – to China. China, of course, being the sovereign country and economic powerhouse that did what the EU completely failed to do: fight back against the Washington bullies. 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They have submitted to their own impoverishment and ongoing deindustrialization, but the American laying waste of their economies has not stopped but accelerated again. Europe is under massive economic attack – and it is not fighting back. In an ideal world, the Europeans would now finally see sense: For starters, they would rebel against the EU Commission and its power grab, get rid of Ursula von der Leyen and her team, and disavow their 'deal.' Then they would stop taking over America's proxy war against Russia, cut their ties with the corrupt Kiev regime, and normalize their relationship with Russia – and with China, too. In other words, they would find partners to help them emancipate themselves from an American overlord that is not merely dominating but devastating its 'allies.' None of the above, however, will happen. Witness the sorry spectacle of the last, recent attempt to chase von der Leyen from office. 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