Elon Musk and Donald Trump have ramped up their feud over the 2024 presidential election.
The Tesla and SpaceX head first drew the ire of the ex-prez when he admitted that he wanted Ron DeSantis to be the Republican candidate for that upcoming election. Trump called Musk “another bullshit artist” at an Alaska rally, before pointing out that his since-aborted plan to by Twitter was a smokescreen.
Musk responded with a series of tweets saying that Trump needs to end his political career and let other Republicans run. He added that he thinks Democrats back Trump into a corner with their investigation into the president’s actions on Jan 6.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Musk said. “Dems should also call off the attack—don’t make it so that Trump’s only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.”
Trump didn’t take Musk’s comments in stride. He took to Truth Social, his personal social media platform that he launched after being banned from Twitter and Facebook, and dragged Elon through the muck.
“When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless,” Trump wrote.
Trump reiterated his claim that Musk supported him in private during the presidency, before noting that Musk was ready to beg for the government’s help.
“I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it,” Trump shared, along with a photo of Musk and Trump in the Oval Office.
All of this springs from the fact that Trump is hearing footsteps inside Mar-A-Lago. With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seemingly gearing up for a run at the White House, Trump feels a threat to his presumptive nomination for the 2024 ticket. It doesn’t help that prominent right-wing figures like Musk and Joe Rogan are throwing their lot in behind our charisma void in Tallahassee.
Trump has floated a few ways to deal with the threat, first sharing poll numbers that show him beating DeSantis, then reportedly planning a petty launch party in DeSantis’ backyard. He eventually settled for what he knows best: social media sniping of anyone who doesn’t wholeheartedly support him.