
Musk vs Trump season 2: Tesla boss reveals his American Party's No 1 priority
Live Events
— elonmusk (@elonmusk)
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made it clear that one of the top priorities of his newly launched political movement, the America Party , will be the public release of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Musk intensified his criticism of President Donald Trump , questioning his failure to release Epstein-related documents. "How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?" Musk wrote.When an X user asked whether uncovering Epstein's secrets would be a high priority for the America Party, Musk responded with a '💯' emoji—signaling a resounding yes.Epstein, who was facing federal charges for sex trafficking, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 under suspicious circumstances that have fueled years of speculation and conspiracy theories.Earlier this week, Musk further trolled Trump, posting an image labeled 'The Official Jeffrey Epstein Pedophile Arrest Counter'—with all zeros—alongside the caption: "What's the time? Oh look, it's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again."Musk's public fallout with Trump appears to be escalating rapidly. After Republicans passed a controversial policy bill backed by Trump, Musk vowed to support primary challengers against GOP members who voted in favor. In response, Trump lashed out on Truth Social, dismissing the America Party as 'ridiculous' and Musk as a 'train wreck.''He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States,' Trump wrote. 'The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of COMPLETE and TOTAL DISRUPTION & CHAOS.'According to The Hill, Musk launched the America Party after polling X users about their desire to break free from the 'two-party (some would say uniparty) system.' He wrote: "When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom."The Musk-Trump rift marks a dramatic shift in their relationship. Trump had previously praised Musk's cost-cutting efforts and even awarded him a symbolic 'gold key' to the White House. At one point, Musk held a role within the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with an office in the West Wing and participation in Cabinet meetings.Now, Trump has hinted at using the same agency to target Musk's companies and even floated the idea of deporting the South African-born billionaire.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Economic Times
25 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Back to Cold War era? Russia ends nuclear treaty as Trump sends nuke submarines into position
Synopsis Russia has formally dropped its self-imposed restrictions under the 1987 INF Treaty, blaming the West for escalating tensions. Once a Cold War milestone, the INF deal curbed the deployment of mid-range nuclear missiles. Now, with the US redeploying submarines and preparing missile stations in Europe and Asia, Moscow says the conditions that kept the treaty alive no longer exist. Amid nuclear posturing and diplomatic threats, a new era of arms competition is quietly but rapidly taking shape. TIL Creatives Representative AI Image Russia has now officially abandoned its last pretence of observing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In a statement released on Monday, the Foreign Ministry made it clear: Moscow "no longer considers itself bound" by its "previously adopted self restrictions" under the treaty. It cited the deployment of US intermediate-range weapons in Europe and the Asia-Pacific as a direct threat to Russian treaty, signed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, was supposed to end one of the most dangerous chapters of the Cold War. It banned ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometres. Over 2,600 missiles were dismantled. At the time, it was hailed as a major arms control optimism didn't last. The US formally withdrew from the INF in 2019 under President Donald Trump, who argued that Russia had been breaking the rules for years by developing and deploying the 9M729 missile system (known to NATO as the SSC-8). Moscow denied the claim, but the accusations dated back to at least 2014, during Barack Obama's the US withdrawal, Russia kept its own moratorium, on paper. In practice, its actions in Ukraine suggested November, Russia reportedly used an Oreshnik missile, a weapon with a range that breaches the now-defunct treaty, against a Ukrainian city. That missile, which President Vladimir Putin has confirmed is now in service, is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and is already being deployed to Belarus. A troubling development, considering Belarus borders three NATO members. Russia's decision to end its observance of the treaty comes just days after former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev issued a nuclear threat online. In response, Trump ordered two US nuclear submarines to be 'positioned in the appropriate regions.' He later told Newsmax, 'When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared… and we're totally prepared.'Trump added, 'Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances.'Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, hasn't been subtle. He posted on X, 'This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with. Expect further steps.'His claim: NATO's "anti-Russian policy" has triggered the end of the missile moratorium. It's a familiar message from Moscow, one that frames every escalation as a defensive nuclear rhetoric has become a regular feature in Russia's propaganda arsenal. It's part sabre-rattling, part information a bigger context to all this. The United States plans to begin 'episodic deployments' of intermediate-range missiles to Germany from 2026. Typhon missile launchers have already appeared in the Philippines. US weapons testing during Australia's Talisman Sabre military exercise also raised Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking to RIA Novosti last December, said the unilateral moratorium was 'practically no longer viable.' He blamed the US for ignoring joint warnings from Moscow and Beijing.'The United States arrogantly ignored warnings from Russia and China and, in practice, moved on to deploying weapons of this class in various regions of the world.'Putin himself has warned that the collapse of the INF Treaty would 'significantly erode the global security framework.'The Kremlin, however, played down Trump's submarine comments. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told reporters:'In this case, it is obvious that American submarines are already on combat duty. This is an ongoing process… of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric.'Tensions between Moscow and Washington are running high. Trump has issued an ultimatum: Putin must agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by August 9 or face sweeping new sanctions, including penalties against oil buyers like India and China. Meanwhile, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected in Moscow this Putin doesn't look ready to fold. Last week, he claimed that while peace talks had shown 'some positive progress,' Russia has the 'momentum' in the war. That doesn't sound like a man ready to pull this really means is that the arms control era that started in the 1980s is over. Dead, buried, and now being actively INF Treaty wasn't perfect. It didn't cover sea- or air-launched weapons. It didn't include China. And enforcement was always shaky. But it worked as a firebreak. Without it, there are fewer guardrails. More room for miscalculation. And a growing temptation to escalate, decision to scrap its remaining commitments marks a shift from strategic ambiguity to open rearmament. The US won't be far so, nearly four decades after the Cold War began to cool, the world is once again talking about nuclear missiles in Europe. Not as history, but as breaking news.


New Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Some foreign visitors will have to pay bond of up to $15,000 to enter US under new programme
NEW YORK: The Trump administration is implementing a pilot programme under which foreign visitors arriving in the US on tourist or business visas could be required to pay a 'bond' of up to USD 15,000 to ensure they don't overstay their visas. The countries that would come under the purview of the programme have not been announced yet. The US State Department has issued a 'temporary final rule' under which a 12-month long visa bond pilot programme will be started. The State Department said that under this pilot programme, foreign individuals applying for the B-1/B-2 visas to come into the US for business or tourism could be required to post a bond of up to USD 15,000. The Department said that the rule is described as a " key pillar of the Trump administration's foreign policy to protect the United States from the clear national security threat posed by visa overstays and deficient screening and vetting". "Individuals applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure (B-1/B-2) and who are nationals of countries identified by the Department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering Citizenship by Investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot programme," the department said in a public notice. It said consular officers may require covered nonimmigrant visa "applicants to post a bond of up to USD 15,000 as a condition of visa issuance, as determined by the consular officers". The pilot programme, expected to start this month, will be effective till August 5, 2026. The pilot programme appears to be part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, a key agenda of the US president's electoral run and his second term in the White House. The public notice states that over the years, it has been found that hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visitors do not depart the US timely and overstay their visas. While the public notice does not mention which countries will come under the purview of the programme, it said that the State Department will announce the covered countries within at least 15 days before the pilot programme takes effect and this list will be amended as required. "In announcing the covered countries, the Department will also provide a brief explanation of the basis for requiring bonds consistent with this rule," it said. "The pilot programme is further designed to serve as a diplomatic tool to encourage foreign governments to take all appropriate actions to ensure robust screening and vetting for all citizens in matters of identity verification and public safety and to encourage specified countries with visa overstays to ensure their nationals timely depart the United States after making temporary visits." "The public notice said that by its design and intention, the pilot programme is a tool of diplomacy, intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when travelling to the United States for temporary visits". The notice also cites estimates by the Department of Homeland Security, which said that in the DHS FY 2023 Overstay Report, data indicated there were over 500,000 suspected in-country overstays, - individuals who remained in the country past the end of their authorised stay and had yet to depart the country - among nonimmigrants admitted through air or sea ports of entry. Through the programme, the Department seeks to send a message to all countries to take immediate action to encourage their nationals to comply with US immigration law, it said.

Time of India
27 minutes ago
- Time of India
Ashok Malik Says India's Russian Oil Trade Is Legal, Transparent, and No Sanctions Are Breached
/ Aug 05, 2025, 09:51AM IST India is being unfairly targeted in Donald Trump's latest outburst over Russian oil purchases, says Ashok Malik, India Head of The Asia Group. In a strong rebuttal to tariff threats, Malik states that India is not breaching any sanctions or price cap agreements—and the country's energy diplomacy was established in full view of the West, including the US. He warns that Trump's remarks reflect domestic political compulsions and not the reality of India's responsible foreign policy. 'India is collateral damage in Trump vs Putin,' says Malik, urging New Delhi to stay the course and not be bullied by vague accusations. This bold stand from one of India's foremost strategic experts shows how India must assert its sovereign right to choose partners and secure energy needs, without falling into the trap of Western blame games.#ashokmalik #russianoil #indiarussiaoil #trumptariff #indiausrelations #energysecurity #crudeoilpricecap #ukrainewarimpact #indiarussia #usindiatrade #geopolitics #donaldtrump #putin #eurasianpolitics #globalenergymarket #india #breakingnews #trending #bharat #toi #toibharat #indianews