 "Trump says Elon Musk has 'lost his mind,' rejects olive branch from tech mogul as the feud enters day 2")
US President Donald Trump continued unleashing wrath against Tesla CEO Elon Musk, dismissing any form of peace offering in the ongoing public spat. On Friday, Trump said that his former ‘First Buddy’ is “losing his mind,” as the dramatic breakdown is inching closer towards having drastic economic and political consequences.
Trump snapped back at Musk in a series of phone calls from US media houses on Friday. Trump continued with his rant after the tech mogul launched an extraordinary social media attack on the president the day before, which ended with him accusing Trump of being named in the so-called “ Epstein files” – documents related to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The POTUS eventually took to his TruthSocial platform and posted a statement attributed to the Epstein criminal defence attorney David Schoen that denied the accusation hurled by Musk. “I can say authoritatively, unequivocally and definitively that [Epstein] had no information to hurt President Trump,” Schoen’s statement said. “I specifically asked him!”
Trump doubles down
During the phone calls with US journalists, Trump doubled down on his hostility towards Musk, the same man who spent over $300 million to get him back in the Oval Office. In an interview with ABC News, Trump was asked if there was any prospect of peacemaking between two firebrands, to which Trump vehemently said “no”.
“You mean the man who has lost his mind?” Trump responded and added that he was “not particularly” interested in talking to his former confidant right now. While speaking to CNN, Trump said: “I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem.” However, he told Politico that the relationship with Musk was “going very well, never done better”.
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View AllDuring his rant against Trump, Musk suggested that he would start a new political party that “actually represents the 80 per cent in the middle” and, given his wealth, he would be able to pump millions into next year.
It is pertinent to note that Trump made these comments after Musk appeared to offer an olive branch in reply to a post from the hedge fund owner Bill Ackman, who called on Trump and Musk to “make peace for the benefit of our great country”. However, on Friday, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, told NBC News, “There are no plans” for a call between the two men.
The quarrel between the two most powerful men in America began after Musk slammed Trump’s “ Big Beautiful Bill,” a tax and spending legislation that experts say would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt, strip more than 10 million people of their health insurance and enshrine tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Musk went on to call the bill a “disgusting abomination.” In response to this, Trump said he was “very disappointed in Elon” over the criticism, resulting in a war of words between the two.
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