Trump calls Musk's formation of new party 'ridiculous' and confusing
A day after Musk escalated his feud with Trump and announced the formation of a new US political party, the Republican president was asked about it before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, as he returned to Washington upon visiting his nearby golf club.
'I think it's ridiculous to start a third party. We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party. The Democrats have lost their way, but it's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion,' Trump told reporters. 'It really seems to have been developed for two parties. Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous.'
Musk announced on Saturday that he is establishing the 'America Party' in response to Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which Musk said would bankrupt the country.
In response, investment firm Azoria Partners, which had planned to launch a fund tied to Musk's electric automaker Tesla , said it was delaying the venture because the party's creation posed 'a conflict with his full-time responsibilities as CEO.'
Musk, who served as a top adviser to Trump on downsizing and reshaping the federal government during the first few months of his presidency, said his new party would in next year's midterm elections look to unseat Republican lawmakers in Congress who backed the sweeping measure known as the 'big, beautiful bill.'
Speaking on the CNN program 'State of the Union' on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the boards of directors at Musk's companies — Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX — probably would prefer him to stay out of politics.
'I imagine that those boards of directors did not like this announcement yesterday (Saturday) and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities,' Bessent said.
Musk spent millions of dollars underwriting Trump's 2024 re-election effort and, for a time, regularly showed up at the president's side in the White House Oval Office and elsewhere. Their disagreement over the spending bill led to a falling out that Musk briefly tried unsuccessfully to repair.
The bill, which cuts taxes and ramps up spending on defense and border security, passed last week on party-line votes in both chambers of Congress. Critics have said it will damage the US economy by significantly adding to the federal budget deficit.
Trump has said Musk is unhappy because the measure, which Trump signed into law on Friday, takes away green-energy credits for Tesla's electric vehicles. The president has threatened to pull billions of dollars Tesla and SpaceX receive in government contracts and subsidies in response to Musk's criticism.
INVESTOR REBUKE
Musk's announcement of a new party immediately brought a rebuke from Azoria Partners, which said on Saturday it will postpone the listing of its Azoria Tesla Convexity exchange-traded fund. Azoria was set to launch the Tesla ETF this week.
Azoria CEO James Fishback posted on X several critical comments about the new party and reiterated his support for Trump.
'I encourage the Board to meet immediately and ask Elon to clarify his political ambitions and evaluate whether they are compatible with his full-time obligations to Tesla as CEO,' Fishback said.
On Sunday, Fishback added on X, 'Elon left us with no other choice.'
The Democratic Party appeared to welcome the rift between Trump and Musk.
'Trump's MAGA party is splitting at the seams in the wake of his nightmare budget bill,' said Abhi Rahman, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee. 'Republicans are waking up and facing the reality that they just signed their own pink slips, and are desperate for someone else to blame.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
37 minutes ago
- Arab News
Netanyahu hosted by the guarantor-in-chief
When visiting the president's office, it helps to come bearing warmth. A firm embrace, a grateful smile, a public thank you — all gestures of loyalty that set the tone. It is best to arrive eager for wisdom and ready to express not only personal admiration but also that of your people. In these corridors of power, both elders and juniors are expected to display reverence. Some go further. They declare themselves lucky to have been born during his era, lucky to sail on the same ship. For he, they say, is a seasoned captain, unfazed by tempests. Success clings to him and landmark deals bear his signature. He is, in their eyes, unlike any predecessor — a singular force, a steadfast ally in turbulent times. Flattery often extends to his choice of necktie or dance steps — and, of course, his tweets. Such an encounter may begin with congratulations: victories abroad echo those at home. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew toward his US meeting this week, he was both relaxed and cautious. He credits himself with having slipped inside Donald Trump's mind — perhaps even his heart. But Trump is a complex man: hard-edged, addicted to winning, a master of deals and disruption. He recoils at failure, bristles at disappointment and never backs down. He plays both sides — extending a hand one moment, throwing punches the next. He views the world through his own lens, dismissing the vision of experts. His talent for veering off course is matched only by his flair for unsettling both allies and foes. Each new battle deepens his conviction that destiny has chosen him to save not only America, but the world. Trump extends a hand one moment, throws punches the next. He views the world through his own lens. Ghassan Charbel Netanyahu might open the meeting with a tale. He could say the president's backing allowed him to carry out major surgery on the Middle East — painful, delicate, expensive surgery that has redrawn the region's face. Just two years ago, he might say, a missile could travel from Tehran to Beirut via Iraq and Syria, bypassing state permission. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps adviser could accompany it, arming proxies and cementing their place in the so-called axis of resistance. Back then, a visitor to Syria could meet President Bashar Assad in Damascus, then travel by road to Beirut's southern suburbs to sit with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. They could even meet leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad living in Lebanon without state consent. American support secured Israel's military and technological edge and facilitated the operation. Today, the missile no longer reaches its target. Nor does the adviser. Syria, once the corridor and incubator, speaks a different language now — reportedly seeking only to revive the disengagement accord in exchange for stepping out of the military side of the conflict with Israel. Lebanon, once the base of the 'support front,' has paid a steep price. Though Israel paused its shelling, it continues lethal strikes. Without Syrian depth, Hezbollah cannot launch a war. Yet its insistence on holding onto its weapons robs Lebanon of stability and reconstruction prospects and could trigger something worse. The old balance is broken. Israeli jets control the skies over much of the neighborhood and operate across borders. Syria wants US guarantees. So does Hamas. Lebanon, too. Even Iran is said to be seeking American assurances. Trump, it seems, is the region's guarantor-in-chief. Netanyahu closes his eyes. He feels genuine gratitude toward the president. The picture has changed. The fall of Assad's regime, in his eyes, shifted the game. The current phase is about forcing factions back into their native maps, stripped of regional extensions. That return coincides with extracting borders from the battlefield, at least for now. Removing the rubble from Gaza will take years. So will reconstruction. In the meantime, Hamas will likely be sidelined, unable to contemplate another war. Lebanon, too, may not pose a threat in the coming years. At best, it hopes for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Israeli withdrawal from its territory and for weapons to be placed solely in the state's hands. The biggest file remains Iran. Trump's vow to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon is unwavering. The latest round of conflict drew Tehran directly into the war, stripping it of the luxury of fighting by proxy. Israeli strikes on Iranian soil pierced what Tehran once considered untouchable. Even as Iran's missiles struck Tel Aviv, the strategic loss across its regional network was deeper. Now the question: Will Iran opt to ride out Trump's term, coexisting until the clock runs out? Can it rebuild new lines of regional defense resembling Hezbollah's former role? Netanyahu knows Trump needs a win in Gaza after failing to deliver one in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to crush Ukraine before agreeing to a truce and he wants no partner in claiming victory. But Netanyahu will not challenge the guarantor-in-chief. The man of war can also be the man of peace. A ceasefire in Gaza might be accepted — then navigated around. Some flexibility may be necessary, given the devastation. There is little left in Gaza that could pose a danger. Israel's adversaries now wait for guarantees from the US. Netanyahu, meanwhile, hopes for a fresh endorsement from the White House to fuel his reelection bid. Some in the region are even hoping Trump concludes that the most meaningful guarantee he can offer is to keep the two-state solution alive — even if on pause. For now, the guarantor also remains the dealer of surprises. This article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat.
Arab News
40 minutes ago
- Arab News
A Vermont dairy farm was raided. The mixed messages from Washington since then have increased fears
MONTPELIER: After six 12-hour shifts milking cows, José Molina-Aguilar's lone day off was hardly relaxing. On April 21, he and seven co-workers were arrested on a Vermont dairy farm in what advocates say was one of the state's largest-ever immigration raids. 'I saw through the window of the house that immigration were already there, inside the farm, and that's when they detained us,' he said in a recent interview. 'I was in the process of asylum, and even with that, they didn't respect the document that I was still holding in my hands.' Four of the workers were swiftly deported to Mexico. Molina-Aguilar, released after a month in a Texas detention center with his asylum case still pending, is now working at a different farm and speaking out. 'We must fight as a community so that we can all have, and keep fighting for, the rights that we have in this country,' he said. The owner of the targeted farm declined to comment. But Brett Stokes, a lawyer representing the detained workers, said the raid sent shock waves through the entire Northeast agriculture industry. 'These strong-arm tactics that we're seeing and these increases in enforcement, whether legal or not, all play a role in stoking fear in the community,' said Stokes, director of the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. That fear remains given the mixed messages coming from the White House. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to deport millions of immigrants working in the US illegally, last month paused arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels. But less than a week later, the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said worksite enforcement would continue. Such uncertainty is causing problems in big states like California, where farms produce more than three-quarters of the country's fruit and more than a third of its vegetables. But it's also affecting small states like Vermont, where dairy is as much a part of the state's identity as its famous maple syrup. Nearly two-thirds of all milk production in New England comes from Vermont, where more than half the state's farmland is dedicated to dairy and dairy crops. There are roughly 113,000 cows and 7,500 goats spread across 480 farms, according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, which pegs the industry's annual economic impact at $5.4 billion. That impact has more than doubled in the last decade, with widespread help from immigrant labor. More than 90 percent of the farms surveyed for the agency's recent report employed migrant workers. Among them is Wuendy Bernardo, who has lived on a Vermont dairy farm for more than a decade and has an active application to stop her deportation on humanitarian grounds: Bernardo is the primary caregiver for her five children and her two orphaned younger sisters, according to a 2023 letter signed by dozens of state lawmakers. Hundreds of Bernardo's supporters showed up for her most recent check-in with immigration officials. 'It's really difficult because every time I come here, I don't know if I'll be going back to my family or not,' she said after being told to return in a month. Like Molina-Aguilar, Rossy Alfaro also worked 12-hour days with one day off per week on a Vermont farm. Now an advocate with Migrant Justice, she said the dairy industry would collapse without immigrant workers. 'It would all go down,' she said. 'There are many people working long hours, without complaining, without being able to say, 'I don't want to work.' They just do the job.'
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
EU's von der Leyen had 'good exchange' with Trump over phone, Commission says
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump had a 'good exchange' on Sunday, a Commission spokesperson said on Monday, adding that the EU's aim remained to reach a trade deal with Washington by July 9. 'We want to reach a deal with the US We want to avoid tariffs. We believe they cause pain. We want to achieve win-win outcomes, not lose-lose outcomes,' the spokesperson told reporters during a daily press briefing.
