Latest news with #GovernmentContracts
Al Arabiya
06-07-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Musk Forms New Political Party After Split With Trump Over President's Signature Tax Cuts Law
Elon Musk says he's carrying out his threat to form a new political party after his fissure with President Donald Trump, announcing on X that he is forming the America Party in response to the president's sweeping tax cuts law. Musk, once an ever-present ally to Trump as he headed up the slashing agency known as the Department of Government Efficiency, broke with the Republican president over his signature legislation, which was signed into law Friday. As the bill made its way through Congress, Musk threatened to form the America Party if 'this insane spending bill passes.' 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft we live in a one-party system not a democracy,' Musk said Saturday on X, the social media company he owns. 'Today the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.' The formation of new political parties is not uncommon, but they typically struggle to pull any significant support away from the Republican and Democratic parties. But Musk, the world's richest man, who spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the 2024 election, could impact the 2026 elections – determining control of Congress – if he is willing to spend significant amounts of Monday. His reignited feud with the president could also be costly for Musk, whose businesses rely on billions of dollars in government contracts, and publicly traded company Tesla has taken a hit in the market. It wasn't clear whether Musk had taken steps to formally create the new political party. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee America PAC didn't immediately comment Sunday. As of Sunday morning, there were multiple political parties listed in the Federal Election Commission database that had been formed in the hours since Musk's Saturday X post with versions of 'America Party of DOGE' or 'X' in the name or Musk listed among people affiliated with the entity. But none appeared to be authentic, listing contacts for the organization as email addresses such as ' [email protected] ' or untraceable Protonmail addresses. Musk on Sunday spent the morning on X taking feedback from users about the party and indicated he'd use the party to get involved in the 2026 midterm elections. Last month, he threatened to try to oust every member of Congress that voted for Trump's bill. Musk had called the tax breaks and spending cuts package 'a disgusting abomination,' warning it would increase the federal deficit, among other critiques. 'The Republican Party has a clean sweep of the executive, legislative and judicial branches and STILL had the nerve to massively increase the size of government, expanding the national debt by a record five trillion dollars,' Musk said Sunday on X. His critiques of the bill and move to form a political party mark a reversal from May when his time in the White House was winding down and the head of rocket company SpaceX and electric vehicle maker Tesla said he would spend a lot less on politics in the future. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who clashed with Musk while he ran DOGE, said on CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday that DOGE's principles were popular, but 'if you look at the polling, Elon was not.' 'I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities,' he said.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Three ways the Trump-Musk feud revealed the GOP's twisted hypocrisy
Aside from being globally cathartic, the all-too-predictable breakup of President Donald Trump's unquenchable ego and Elon Musk's immense sense of self-importance pulled the dressing-room curtain back on the Republican Party. And what we saw was both cringeworthy and indecent. Or as I like to call it, the Republican Party. Here are three things this episode of 'Real Annoying Billionaires of Washington, DC' taught us about the conservatives who excitedly welcomed Musk – and his money – into politics: As the president and the weirdo billionaire hurled insults at each other on June 5, Trump posted this threat: 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.' Gee, I wonder who, up until June 5, was helping Musk grease the wheels to line up 'Billions and Billions of Dollars' in additional government contracts? As The New York Times reported in March: 'Within the Trump administration's Defense Department, Elon Musk's SpaceX rocketry is being trumpeted as the nifty new way the Pentagon could move military cargo rapidly around the globe. In the Commerce Department, SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service will now be fully eligible for the federal government's $42 billion rural broadband push, after being largely shut out during the Biden era. … And at the Federal Aviation Administration and the White House itself, Starlink satellite dishes have recently been installed, to expand federal government internet access.' Opinion: Musk erupts, claims Trump is in the Epstein files. Who could've seen this coming? How quickly Trump went from filling Musk's coffers to repay him for his support and campaign contributions to suggesting Musk's contracts were, in fact, a form of government waste and fraud. (I mean … they are a form of government waste and fraud, but not in the way Trump was suggesting.) There's no other takeaway from this other than: We were happy to pay Musk whatever he wanted as long as he loved Trump, but the minute he stopped loving Trump, we can easily stop paying him. I think there's a word for that. Musk's swift about-face on Trump shows what many of us have long suspected: Republicans or Republicans-of-convenience like Musk don't actually like or respect Trump. On Feb. 7, Musk posted on social media: 'I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man.' On June 5, Musk posted: '@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!' Going from 'I love you, man' to 'I'm alleging you're connected to a notorious sex offender who was facing child sex trafficking charges before he died of suicide in jail' is quite a journey. And it implies that Musk saw Trump for what he is: a useful, loathsome fool. Opinion: Who would want to have babies under a Trump administration? Not me. The minute Trump became not useful to Musk, he sang his truth, something I'd bet most Republicans would do if they had untold wealth and didn't have to worry much about repercussions. That tells you all you need to know about the modern-day GOP – liars boosting a lout in their own self-interest. For all its fanfare, the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency that Musk oversaw accomplished precious little cost-cutting while inflicting massive harm on America's global reputation, the lives of people reliant on U.S. aid, and the overall functioning of the federal government. Republicans knew this yet still tripped over themselves to toss roses at Musk's feet, hailing him as some kind of genius/savior. They wanted his money, and they wanted the disinformation cannon that comes with his right-wing social media platform. But when Musk grew wise to what Republican lawmakers were doing with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – a deficit-ballooning monstrosity – he turned on his handmaidens and his former love, President Trump. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. So Trump, of course, called him crazy. Which begs the question: Why were you letting a crazy person access Americans' most private data and demolish the federal workforce? And are you now going to … you know … make sure the guy you think is crazy didn't do something catastrophically bad? Congressional Republicans had to pick a side, and they've largely stepped into Trump's arms, knowing Musk may well be disliked even more than the sitting president. The Washington Post reported June 6: 'Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE's staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process.' Translation: Musk's DOGE nonsense was for naught, an attempt to fluff a billionaire's ego while cloaking the high-spending, deficit-raising moves Republicans were going to make all along. There's a sucker born every minute, and two Republicans to take 'em. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump vs. Musk shows us depths of the GOP's moral rot | Opinion
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Mystery of Trump's vanishing Tesla as his purchase from Elon Musk disappears from outside White House
President Donald Trump has stashed his red Model S Tesla in an undisclosed location amid his running feud with Elon Musk. Hours after Trump introduced the idea that he may move his new car around 'a little bit,' the pricey vehicle had vanished Tuesday from the prime parking spot it had occupied on White House grounds since he purchased it. A White House official, pressed for details, refused to provide additional information to on its whereabouts. 'We're not playing Where's Waldo,' said the official. 'If you don't see, it you don't see it.' Trump himself was coy when a reporter asked him about the electric vehicle Monday after he spent the preceding days warring with Musk by threatening his government contracts, while Trump ally Steve Bannon brought up Musk's alleged drug use and said he should be deported. The South-Africa born Musk is CEO of Tesla, and also runs X and SpaceX. Musk published and deleted a post saying the feds had additional information on Trump in the Jeffrey Epstein files and even suggested the president should be impeached. Trump said Musk would face 'serious consequences' if he backed Democrats, although Musk later appeared to be using his X account to try to claw himself back into Trump's good graces. Amid the threats and counter-threats, reporters wanted to know if Trump would keep the car and maintain the Starlink internet service installed for the White House by Musk's DOGE aides, despite reported warnings by government security professionals. The Tesla remains a fixation, and there were media reports Trump was considering selling it amid the astonishing breach with his former first buddy. 'No, I haven't heard that. I mean, I may move the Tesla around a little bit, but I don't think we'll be doing that with Starlink. It's a good service,' Trump responded. Asked where he might put it, he responded, 'I have a lot of locations. I got so many locations that I don't know what to do with them all,' Trump jokes. The car, which lists for about $80,000, has Florida tags, giving Trump more street parking options if he moves it back to his official domicile at Mar-a-Lago. He also could store the car at his nearby golf club just across the Potomac River in Sterling, Virginia. Trump says he paid for it with a check. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and longtime aide Margo Martin took the car for a spin May 30, shortly before the massive public spat between Trump and Musk erupted at the end of Musk's 130-day stint as a Special Government Employee. The car's disappearance a tangible demonstration of how Trump's relationship has soured with the world's richest man. Trump took heat in the press for turning the White House grounds into a virtual Tesla showroom at a time when Tesla's stock price was tanking amid fury over DOGE cuts. He called the cars 'beautiful' and gushed about the look of the Cybertruck. 'As soon as I saw it, I said, 'That is the coolest design,' he said.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk backs down on threat to retire SpaceX Dragon spacecraft amid Trump dispute
Elon Musk, the world's richest person, on Thursday said his company SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft after he engaged in an extraordinary public fallout with Donald Trump who had threatened to cancel government contracts with Musk's businesses. He later appeared to back down. 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' Musk posted on the social media platform X, which he owns. A few minutes earlier Trump had posted on Truth Social – the media platform that he owns – that he might cancel huge lucrative contracts with Musk's businesses, which include the SpaceX company that is building a fleet of rockets. Related: Trump and Musk's very public feud is like Alien v Predator for political nerds 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Trump said. Nasa relies on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Hours after issuing his threat, Musk appeared to take pleas from users on his social media platform X to 'cool down' and he posted: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' Since 2008, SpaceX has received more than $20bn in government contracts, largely from Nasa and the Department of Defense. In March, two Nasa astronauts returned to Earth in a Dragon capsule after being stranded on the ISS for nearly nine months, after their Boeing Starliner capsule faced technical issues and returned to Earth without them. The next SpaceX Dragon launch is scheduled to take place on 10 June. The Dragon is expected to carry four people to and from the ISS on Axiom Mission 4. Nasa's press secretary, Bethany Stevens, in a statement on X after Musk's announcement, said the agency 'will continue to execute upon the president's vision for the future of space'. Related: Trump v Musk: 10 ways they can further hurt each other 'We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president's objectives in space are met,' she added. Musk's announcement came amid an escalating dispute with Trump that began after he denounced the president's tax and spending bill as a 'disgusting abomination'. Musk later accused Trump of 'ingratitude' for the millions he spent to get him elected. Trump, in turn, said he was 'very disappointed' in Musk. The president wrote earlier on Thursday that Musk was 'wearing thin' and that the tech billionaire 'went crazy' after he was asked to depart the White House last week as head of Trump's 'department of government efficiency' .
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Independent
Donald Trump says Elon Musk ‘has lost his mind'
Donald Trump has escalated his public feud with Elon Musk, stating he is "not even thinking about" him and suggesting he may sell his Tesla Model S. The renewed hostility follows a social media spat where Musk criticised Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, complicating its passage in Congress. On Friday in Washington, Trump was asked about reports of a peacemaking phone call with Musk, to which he responded: 'You mean the man who has lost his mind? Shares in Tesla have dropped 14% after Trump threatened to cut off government contracts with Musk's companies, leading to a $150 billion loss in value. A prolonged feud could impact Republican control of Congress in the midterm elections if Musk withholds financial support, though Musk has indicated he plans to curtail his political spending.
