The dispute seemed to promote a participation through the political joke of great money between President and Elon Musk, who spent about $ 300 million to choose Trump and became one of his closest advisors.
Only a week ago that President Trump and Elon Musk were next to the Oval office saying that Fond says goodbye when the billionaire advisor returned to the private sector. Then, today, again in the Oval, Trump delivered fulminant criticism for the donor in which he once trusted to find ornaments for government spending. Then Musk triggered social networks again, and here we are. The NPR White House correspondent, Danielle Kurtzleben, is here to talk to us
Kurtzleben: Well, the genesis of this break is the great bill, since Republicans are calling their mass package that they are trying to approve at this time. Now, Musk has been criticizing that bill throughout the week. At one point, he called him a disgusting abomination, pointing to his cost. The non -partisan CBO, I must add, has reported that the invoice would add $ 2.4 billion to the deficit of about 10 years. And most importantly, there are some in Capitol Hill that agree with Musk. They are swinging at that price. Well, today, Trump was asked about Musk’s criticism, and Trump said he believes that Musk is angry because the bill would end with tax incentives for people who buy electric cars. Musk, after all, is the CEO or the electric car manufacturer Tesla.
President Donald Trump: Suddenly, he had a problem, and only developed the problem when he discovered that we are going to reduce the mandate of EV because there are thousands and billions of dollars.
Kurtzleben: Now, that’s not all. Trump also added that he believes that Musk simply loses the power and attention he had in the government.
Kelly: And how did Elon Musk respond to all that?
Kurtzleben: Not good. Musk was a real -time response on social networks. I was publishing shortly after Trump’s comments. Musk said no, hey, he did not oppose the bill due to EV fiscal credits. It was the cost. But things simply intensified. Trump published a threat to end the various government contracts that Musk companies have. Trump added that he would save billions of dollars. Well, Musk, in turn, published that Trump had released all the albums on the sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein because, for Musk, Trump himself is involved in those files. Now, Musk did not provide any evidence of this, and Musk has accused, in the past, people of sexual crimes without evidence. By the way, I asked: The White House has no immediate comments about this. But look, thesis two boys love to publish, and we …
Kelly: Yes.
Kurtzleben: … You can expect this to continue.
Kelly: Yes, that’s a safe bet. Well, then we have this, as we said, a very public break in the Bromance between the president and his multimillionaire advisor. Beyond, you know, occupying a lot of bandwidth on social networks, does it matter, Danielle?
Kurtzleben: Well, look, at a level, it’s easy to look, right? – Two angry and powerful boys shoot each other. But there are some important points that I would add here. One is that it has been a business consequence. Tesla’s actions collapsed this afternoon. Another point is that there are very tight margins to approve that great bill in Capitol Hill, so if Musk has some attraction with a few Republicans, that could very little that Bill is the chans or fit.
But there is a more important point here. In the midst of all this today, Musk published, cites: “Without me, Trump would have the choice.” Now, that is a reminder. He is saying that he threw more than a quarter of one billion dollars in the 2024 elections. Then he is sending a message that he, Elon Musk, has money, that Meeans has power.
Kelly: Danielle, who are about 45 seconds here, but can I, while I have you, ask about something else in the headlines today, why are the rates? What do we need to know?
Kurtzleben: Well, Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping by phone today. He said they have spoken for an hour and a half and that they are still trying to obtain that long -term commercial agreement to reduce tariffs between the two countries. A meeting between the two countries is approaching, but Trump did not say when or where it will happen.
Kelly: Danielle Kurtzleben from NPR, thank you very much.
Kurtzleben: Thank you.
The precision and availability of NPR transcripts can vary. The transcription text can be reviewed to correct errors or updates to coincide with the audio. The audio in npr.org can be edited after its original transmission or publication.
