President Donald Trump is insisting that he’s not mad. The breakup with Elon Musk is not causing him to lose any sleep, and he’s definitely not checking his socials multiple times a day. The insistence from the president that he is unbothered and unconcerned about his blowup with the billionaire would be much more convincing if Trump hadn’t spent all of Friday morning calling virtually every news anchor he knows to complain about him.
Over the course of the day, Trump called CNN’s Dana Bash, Fox News’ Bret Baier, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, and CBS News’ Robert Costa to talk about — or insist he doesn’t care to talk about — Thursday’s blowup with Musk.
“I’m not even thinking about Elon, he’s got a problem, the poor guy’s got a problem” Trump reportedly told Bash, who relayed to the network that the conversation had been short. The president made similar comments to Karl, descriming Musk as “the man who has lost his mind.”
“Trump did not, however, seem angry or even concerned about the feud,” Karl wrote on X. “As for reports that there is going to be a Trump/Musk call scheduled for today, Trump told me he is ‘not particularly’ interested in talking to Musk although he says Musk wants to talk to him.”
Trump told Baier that “Elon has totally lost it,” and that he’s not worried about threats of a third party after Musk expressed interest in starting one during his lengthy posting spree on Thursday. In his phone call with Costa, Trump said he was not worried about Musk’s defection and was insead “totally” focused on policy matters. “That’s all I focus on,” Trump said. “I don’t focus on anything else.” (Trump posted later on Friday that had just finished inspecting the site of an opulent ballroom he plans to build at the White House.)
The president insisted to the anchors he spoke to that he does not want to speak to Musk at the moment, who had been a focal point of his 2024 campaign and early presidency, even as allies of both men attempt to broker a detente.
According to an anonymous White House official who spoke to The New York Times, Trump has also decided to sell the red Tesla he purchased in a transparent bid to help Musk’s flagging stock value earlier this year. Other sources told the Times that the president has been referencing recent reports about Musk’s frequent use of ketamine and other drugs, suggesting they may be influencing his current behavior.
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Rolling Stone reported on Thursday that Trump administration officials have not taken the possibility of retaliation against Musk — namely by cancelling lucrative government contracts with his companies or reopening oversight investigations — off of the table.
“THIS ADMINISTRATION COULD ALWAYS START THE INVESTIGATIONS AGAIN,” messaged one senior Trump appointee.
Trump did not stop and talk to reporters as he left the White House on Friday.
From Rolling Stone US
