(AFP) – US President Donald Trump has no plans to speak to billionaire Elon Musk and may even ditch his red Tesla car, the White House said Friday after a stunning public divorce fraught with risk for both men. Trump’s camp insisted that he wanted to move on from the row with the South African-born Musk, with officials telling AFP that the tech tycoon had requested a call but that the president was not interested. The Republican instead intended to focus on getting the US Congress to pass his “big, beautiful” spending bill — Musk’s harsh criticisms of which had triggered the astonishing meltdown on Thursday.
Fallout from the blow up between the world’s richest person and its most powerful could be significant, as Trump risks political damage and Musk faces the loss of huge US government contracts. Trump phoned reporters at several US broadcast networks to insist that he was looking past the row. He called Musk “the man who has lost his mind” in a call to ABC and told CBS he was “totally” focused on the presidency. The White House meanwhile squashed earlier reports that they would talk. “The president does not intend to speak to Musk today,” a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity. A second official said it was “true” that Musk had requested a call.
**Tesla Giveaway?**
Tesla stocks tanked more than 14 percent on Thursday amid the row, losing some $100 billion of the company’s market value, but recovering partly Friday. Trump was considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk’s firm at the height of their relationship. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. “He’s thinking about it, yes,” a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give away the Tesla. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk’s role as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
**’Expiration Date’**
The move came despite apparent efforts by Musk to de-escalate. On Thursday, the SpaceX boss briefly threatened to scrap his company’s Dragon spacecraft — vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station — after Trump suggested he could end Musk’s giant government contracts. But later in the day, Musk sought to de-escalate, writing on his X social media platform: “OK, we won’t decommission Dragon.” The tech magnate also kept a low profile early Friday. But there is no clarity on how the two big egos will repair the relationship, which had already been fraying badly, causing tensions in the White House.
Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, whom Musk once called “dumber than a sack of bricks” in an argument over Trump’s tariffs, refused to gloat but said the tycoon had an “expiration date.” “No, I’m not glad or whatever,” he told reporters. “People come and go from the White House.” Vice President JD Vance also stuck by Trump amid the blazing row — blasting what he called “lies” that his boss was “impulsive or short-tempered” — but notably avoided criticizing Musk. The tensions burst into the open this week when Musk called Trump’s flagship spending bill an “abomination” because it raises the US deficit. Then in a televised Oval Office diatribe on Thursday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” with Musk. The pair traded insults for hours on social media, with Musk at one point suggesting impeachment of Trump and signalling interest in forming a new political party.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
