Trump will threaten Musk, if he provides funding for Democrats, there will be “very serious consequences”
The dispute between Elon Musk and Donald Trump seems to have gone from boiling on weekends to boiling, but don’t rule out the possibility of causing the heat to reappear. In a conversation with NBC News, Trump said he is not relevant to being friendly with Musk now, but does make it clear that if the billionaire decides to change the party and return to the Democratic candidate, “he will have to pay the consequences for it.”
Trump is Trump, and he did not explain what those potential retaliation actions might be, just told NBC that they would be “very serious consequences.” Of course, it’s hard to imagine the leverage that Trump might pull. He has threatened to cancel the multi-billion dollar government contract that Musk is currently counting on, and his close friend and former adviser Steve Bannon encouraged Trump to investigate Musk as an “illegal foreigner” and seize control of the company under the Defense Production Act. So he has some ideas to use.
Trump’s threat to Musk certainly feels like a line drawn on the beach, but otherwise the president hasn’t really upgraded the beef because Musk threw the kitchen at him. In a series of now-deleted posts, Musk claimed that Trump appeared in Epstein’s archives and had been keeping information to protect himself and supporting the idea of the impeachment president, who spent nearly $300 million trying to take office. Musk lowered the positions but remained critical of Trump.
Trump rebuked the attack in a conversation with NBC, calling Epstein Angle “old news” and he “has nothing to do with Epstein.” “It’s called ‘old news’, it’s old news that has been talking about for years,” he said.
Apart from that, Trump basically just decided to wash musk’s hands – at least for the time being. Asked if he ended with SpaceX and Tesla CEOs, Trump told NBC: “I think yes.” He also reiterated that he had no intention of talking to Musk directly, saying, “I was busy doing other things” and “I had no intention of talking to him.”
It’s still mild for a guy who certainly has the ability to be a bomb thrower, but Trump may feel that he’ll be better off by relaxing his body and mind after he flies over the handle. A Yougov poll found that among Republicans, 71% will stand by him, while only 6% say they will leave their support behind Musk. Even if you expand your survey sample to include Democrats and independents, Trump has 28% support, while Musk has only 8% (although it is worth noting that 52% say “neither is”, so the “demographic” of the “poetry on both houses” population is strong).
Politico reported on Sunday that aides representing both sides were speaking and there is currently a mutual truce to stop dropping bombs, although it noted that neither Musk nor Trump wanted to stop. It seems that they are currently locked in the Battle of Constraint, which is not entirely a skill. We will see first who breaks the truce.
