Latest news with #SpaceX
NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- NZ Herald
Donald Trump says Elon Musk's new political party is ‘ridiculous'
US President Donald Trump has scoffed at former ally Elon Musk's idea to form a new political party, saying it is 'ridiculous', deepening the Republican's feud with the man who was once his biggest backer. Trump also branded the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon a 'train wreck' who had gone 'off
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Elon Musk should stay out of politics, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent says
A day after Elon Musk escalated his feud with Donald Trump and announced the formation of a new U.S. political party, the U.S. president's Treasury secretary said Mr. Musk should stick to running his companies. And investment firm Azoria Partners, which had planned to launch a fund tied to Mr. Musk's automaker Tesla, said it was delaying the venture because the party's creation posed "a conflict with his full-time responsibilities as CEO". Mr. Musk said on Saturday he was establishing the 'America Party' in response to Mr. Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which Mr. Musk claimed would bankrupt the country. Speaking on CNN on Sunday, U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent said the boards of directors at Musk's companies – Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX – likely would prefer him to stay out of politics. "I imagine that those boards of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities," Mr. Bessent said. Mr. Musk, who served as a top adviser to the White House on trimming the size of government during the first few months of Trump's presidency, said his new party would in next year's midterm elections look to unseat Republicans in Congress who backed the 'big, beautiful bill'. Mr. Musk spent millions of dollars underwriting Mr. Trump's re-election effort and for a time, regularly showed up at the president's side in the Oval Office and elsewhere. Their disagreement over the spending bill led to a falling out that Mr. 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. Critics argue it will damage the economy by significantly adding to the federal budget deficit. Mr. Trump has said Mr. Musk is unhappy because the bill, 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 Mr. Musk's criticism. Mr. Bessent suggested Mr. Musk holds little sway with voters who, he said, liked his Department of Government Efficiency more than him. 'The principles of DOGE were very popular,' Mr. Bessent said. 'I think if you looked at the polling, Elon was not.' Mr. Musk's announcement 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," Mr. Fishback said. On Sunday, Mr. Fishback added on X, "Elon left us with no other choice." The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Musk's announcement, but Stephen Miran, the chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, defended the bill on ABC's 'This Week'. 'The one, big, beautiful bill is going to create growth on turbo charge,' Mr. Miran said.
NDTV
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- NDTV
Trump's "Train Wreck" Post On Elon Musk. He Asks, "What's Truth Social?"
Washington: The feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk escalated further on Sunday after the US President slammed his estranged ally for launching a new political party. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the Republican said the Tesla and SpaceX boss was becoming a "TRAIN WRECK" and that a third political party "never succeeds" in the US, referring to Mr Musk's "America Party". "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States - The System seems not designed for them," President Trump said. He said the one thing third parties are good for is the creation of "complete and total DISRUPTION and CHAOS". Speaking to reporters shortly before his post, he said it was "ridiculous" to start a third party. "It's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. Third parties have never worked. So he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous," he said. In his Truth Social post, President Trump also slammed Mr Musk for opposing his " one big beautiful bill", which was signed into law last week. "It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time," he said. He said he has been "strongly" opposing the EV mandate from the "very beginning". "I have campaigned on this for two years and, quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate - It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had. He said he had no problems with that - I was very surprised," he wrote. He also attacked Mr Musk for recommending his "blue-blooded Democrat" friend for leading NASA. In December, President Trump named a billionaire private astronaut, Jared Isaacman, as NASA administrator but withdrew the nomination on May 31, before his Senate confirmation vote and without explanation. "Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA and, while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue-blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before. Elon probably was, also," he said. Elon Musk Reacts Elon Musk reacted to Donald Trump's post on Truth Social and said he had "never heard" of the US President's social media platform. Mr Musk, who in 2022 had said that Truth Social was "beating" Twitter, which was renamed as X when he bought it, and TikTok on the App Store, was responding to a user on his social media site who shared the US President's rant in a Truth Social post. Never heard of it — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2025 In a separate post, Mr Musk, who spent millions of dollars during President Trump's 2024 re-election campaign, asked "what the heck was the point" of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) if President Trump was "just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion". DOGE is the government downsizing agency that he briefly led. What the heck was the point of @DOGE if he's just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion?? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2025 Elon Musk, who has been at loggerheads with Donald Trump for weeks, announced on Saturday that he is launching the " America Party" in response to the US President's "big, beautiful bill", which he has said would "bankrupt" the US. He said his new party would in next year's midterm elections look to unseat Republican lawmakers in Congress who backed President Trump's bill.
Korea Herald
3 hours ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Trump slams Musk's political party as 'ridiculous'
US President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed former ally Elon Musk's launching of a new political party as "ridiculous," deepening the Republican's feud with the man who was once his biggest backer. Trump also branded the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon a "TRAIN WRECK" who had gone "off the rails" after Musk said he wanted to challenge the current US political system. The world's richest man was almost inseparable from Trump as he headed the cost-cutting "Department of Government Efficiency," but they fell out hard over the president's "big beautiful" tax and spending megabill. "I think it's ridiculous to start a third party," Trump told reporters before he boarded Air Force One on his way back to Washington from his New Jersey golf club. "It's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. Third parties have never worked. So he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous," he said. South African-born Musk announced Saturday that he would create the "America Party" to challenge what he called the United States' "one-party system." Musk says the president's massive domestic spending plan would explode the US debt, and has vowed to do everything in his power to defeat lawmakers who voted for it. The former DOGE boss, who led a huge drive to slash federal spending and cut jobs, equated Trump's Republicans with rival Democrats when it came to domestic spending. "When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy," Musk posted on X, the social media platform that he owns. Musk gave few details of his plan and it was not clear whether he had registered the party with US electoral authorities, but it could cause Republicans headaches in the 2026 midterm elections — and beyond. In a sign of how sensitive the issue could be for Trump, he took to his Truth Social network while still on Air Force One to double down on his assault on Musk. "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks," Trump posted. "The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats." In a lengthy diatribe, Trump repeated his earlier assertion that Musk's ownership of electric vehicle company Tesla had made him turn on the president due to the spending bill cutting subsidies for such automobiles. Musk has insisted that his opposition is primarily due to the bill increasing the US fiscal deficit and sovereign debt. Earlier on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also threw shade at Musk's attempts to enter the political fray, telling him to stick to running his companies. When asked by CNN if Musk's plan bothered the Trump administration, Bessent offered thinly veiled criticism. "I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone," Bessent said. "So I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities." Musk left DOGE in May to focus full-time on his corporate responsibilities, with Tesla's sales and image especially suffering from his brief venture into Trump's inner circle. Trump gave him a grand send-off in the Oval Office, during a bizarre ceremony during which Musk appeared with a black eye and received a golden key to the White House from the president. But just days later the two were exchanging bitter insults on social media after Musk criticized Trump's flagship spending bill.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Donald Trump calls Elon Musk's formation of a third US political party 'ridiculous'
United States President Donald Trump has labelled Elon Musk's plans to form a new political party as "ridiculous," in a fresh barb launched at the tech billionaire months after he formally departed the White House administration. In his remarks on Sunday, local time, Mr Trump also said that the Musk ally he once named to lead NASA would have presented a conflict of interest given the SpaceX founder's business interests in space. A day after Mr Musk escalated his feud with the president and announced the formation of a new US political party, Mr Trump was asked about it before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, as he returned to Washington DC upon visiting his nearby golf club. "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. "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." Shortly after speaking about Mr Musk, Mr Trump posted further comments on his Truth Social platform, saying, "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks." "The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!" the president's post said. Mr Musk announced on Saturday that he is establishing the "America Party" in response to Mr Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which the billionaire said would bankrupt the country. "What the heck was the point of @DOGE if he's just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion??" Mr Musk wrote on X on Sunday, referring to the government downsizing agency he briefly led. Critics have said the bill will damage the US economy by significantly adding to the federal budget deficit. Mr Musk said his new party would in next year's midterm elections look to unseat Republican politicians in Congress who backed the sweeping measure known as the "big, beautiful bill". The move comes after he spent millions of dollars underwriting Mr 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. The pair's disagreement over the spending bill led to a falling out that Mr Musk briefly tried unsuccessfully to repair. The president has said Mr Musk is unhappy because the measure, which was signed into law on Friday, takes away green-energy credits for Tesla's electric vehicles. Mr Trump has threatened to pull billions of dollars Tesla and SpaceX receive in government contracts and subsidies in response to Musk's criticism. In his social media comments about Mr Musk, the president also said it was "inappropriate" to have named an ally of the billionaire, Jared Isaacman, as NASA administrator considering Mr Musk's business with the space agency. In December Mr Trump named Mr Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut, to lead NASA but withdrew the nomination on May 31, before his Senate confirmation vote and without explanation. Mr Trump, who has yet to announce a new NASA nominee, on Sunday confirmed media reports he disapproved of Mr Isaacman's previous support for Democratic politicians. "I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon's corporate life," the president said on Truth Social. "My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!" Mr Musk's announcement of a new party immediately brought a rebuke from investment firm Azoria Partners, which said on Saturday it will postpone the listing of its Azoria Tesla Convexity exchange-traded fund because the party's creation posed "a conflict with his full-time responsibilities as CEO". Azoria was set to launch the Tesla ETF this week. The company's CEO, James Fishback, posted on X several critical comments about the new party and reiterated his support for Mr 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," Mr Fishback said. Reuters
