Donald Trump slams Elon Musk after "America Party" announcement
"When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy," Musk wrote on his social media platform X on July 5. "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom."
Trump criticized third parties in his July 6 post.
"The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats," Trump wrote.
Musk - the world's richest person with a worth of $405 billion, according to Forbes - spent nearly $290 million to help Trump and other Republicans get elected. In the opening months of Trump's presidency, Musk led the effort to slash federal agencies through the Department of Government Efficiency.
The two have feuded in recent weeks as Musk strongly criticized Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which includes tax cuts, increased spending on immigration enforcement and the military and deep spending cuts in Medicaid. The bill increases the debt ceiling by $5 trillion.
Musk has threatened to boost primary challengers against those who supported the bill, which included all but two Republicans in the House and three in the Senate.
"Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!" Musk wrote before Trump signed the legislation. "And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."
Musk had taken steps to repair his strained relationship with the president - including personally apologizing for insults he made during his combative exit from the Trump administration last month - before the new round of sparring.
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NBC News
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The Independent
30 minutes ago
- The Independent
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The National
36 minutes ago
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We must take to the streets and raise our voices for the world
More than 70 medics killed in 50 days. Entire health systems levelled. Children maimed, entire families erased and infrastructure bombed into dust, the illegal detention of medics and individuals, the torturing of these Palestinians and murder at the hands of the IDF when collecting food, the land grab in the West Bank! These are not unfortunate by-products of war – they are part of a deliberate and systematic campaign to destroy a people's ability to survive. And our government stands idly by, shielding Israel diplomatically and supplying weapons – including F-35 components – used to carry out this destruction. The UK High Court has now refused, in a legally weak decision, to halt arms exports, effectively greenlighting continued sales while Palestinians are slaughtered. And while brave UN officials speak out, Labour and Tory front benches compete in cowardice, too spineless to condemn crimes against humanity when they fear political fallout. Even the right to speak about Palestine is under attack. The proscription of Palestinian movements, the labelling of all resistance as terrorism, the censorship and threats faced by those who speak out – all form part of a growing war on free expression and dissent in the UK. The 100+ BBC journalists who have criticised the BBC for its spineless reporting on the Gaza Genocide speaks volumes The Arab world offers handwringing and silence. The US under Trump, and formerly Biden, has aided and encouraged Israel's brutality. But the Scottish people must speak with moral clarity. We say this clearly: You do not govern in our name. Scotland did not vote for the arming of an apartheid state. Scotland did not consent to being complicit in genocide. We demand an end to all arms exports to Israel, an end to diplomatic protection, and a public reckoning for those who have allowed this mass killing to continue unchallenged and that includes UK politicians! If Westminster will not act, then Scotland must. We must raise our voices, take to the streets and tell the world – we are not with them. Not now. Not ever. Enough. Not in our name. Peter Macari Aberdeen I AM glad that Stan Grodynski took the time to read and even re-read my recent long letter on the subject of the many policy promises made by and sadly broken by our SNP Scottish Government. In the minds of the public, these broken promises are often more relevant than the constant further promises of improvement, after 18 years in government, and the almost endless list of 'free' stuff which dominate the SNP's PR output these days. Stan has even invented a new political language – 'seemingly misleading, from reference to factual sources' is a phrase I have certainly never heard before. I do, however, agree with Stan that with Alex Salmond's passing, Scotland lost a powerful voice that his successors, both in the SNP and Alba parties, as well as in the wider independence movement, have struggled to emulate. I was initially attracted to Stan's suggestion that the SNP should separate the roles of first minister from 'someone else to step up and take the lead in campaigning for independence'. However, that says quite a lot about the ability of the current first minister and his apparent failure to lead the party as well as the Parliament. A reasonable person might expect the SNP's deputy leader to then lead the independence campaign but I suspect that more than 90% of the Scottish electorate, and even a fair number of SNP members, have no idea who that person actually is. I have to admire Stan's considerable efforts to defend both the SNP and the Scottish Government – especially as he is not even a member of the party. His volume of correspondence in this letters page as well as that of several other well-known newspapers is to his credit. It is a shame that the SNP and its considerable army of politicians, well-paid special advisers and spin doctors fail to do the same. The SNP have until May 2026 (appropriately, nine months) to conceive, gestate and produce a strategy which they can then ask the electorate to vote on. That strategy must include a viable route to independence. If the manifesto for 2026 to 2031 is restricted to a list of past achievements, vague promises of vast pots of independence jam tomorrow and better management of devolution, many potential SNP supporters will be asking: just what is the point – and who can blame them. PS. The SNP's current deputy leader is Keith Brown MSP. He has been in that post since June 8, 2018 – seven long years! John Baird Largs THE recent deliberations asked of the Supreme Court by the SNP were narrowly focused on the jurisdictional extent of the Scotland Act so far as relates to the power of the Scottish Government to hold a referendum. More to the point is that question so far as relates to the Treaty of Union. The Treaty of Union predates the Scotland Act. Scotland's jurisdiction outwith the ambit of the Scotland Act was not touched on and therefore remains. That would include the powers to hold a referendum. Calum I Duncan via email
