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Trump Threatens Elon Musk · Elon Musk Podcast

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  Your ultimate authority for daily Elon Musk news.
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  Exploring the world's biggest ideas with your host Will
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  Walden. There's something new everyday.
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  The President of the United States has just threatened a
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  private citizen. Donald Trump told Elon Musk to
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  expect very serious consequences if he funds political candidates
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  that Trump poses now. This threat didn't come through
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  a leak or some sort of back channel message.
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  That came directly. From the president himself
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  during a phone interview with NBCS Kristen Welker Now.
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  That message followed a series of public jabs between the two
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  men, revealing a larger question.
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  What happens when the president? Donald Trump.
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  Threatens to retaliate against a private citizen for political
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  donations. Trump's threat wasn't vague,
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  though. In a Thursday post, he suggested
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  cutting off federal contracts and subsidies to Musk's
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  companies as a budget saving measure.
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  That post followed Musk's public criticism of the GOP's latest
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  budget legislation and his call to vote out incumbents in 2026.
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  Elon also followed the idea of launching a new political party
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  to represent the 80% in the middle.
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  Trump responded within days, warning that if Musk backs
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  Democratic candidates in the midterms, he'll suffer
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  unspecified consequences now. The president didn't explain
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  what those would be, but insisted they'd be very serious
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  now. Musk donated at least
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  $288,000,000 to support Trump and other Republicans during the
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  2024 election cycle, according to campaign finance reports that
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  some made him the most influential financial backer in
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  GOP circles last year. Now his abrupt threat to
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  redirect support away from the party or possibly fund third
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  party or Democratic candidates has triggered Donald Trump's
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  escalated warnings. Now, the message that Donald
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  Trump is sending is that loyalty is transactional, and switching
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  sides comes with penalties. Trump's tactics have created
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  unease even among some of his political allies.
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  Federal subsidies have played a major role in sustaining Musk's
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  companies. SpaceX receives billions through
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  NASA contracts, and Tesla benefits from energy credits and
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  tax incentives tied to its EVs. Now, cutting those off would
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  have tangible effects on operations, investors and jobs.
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  The threat was targeted directly to Elon Musk and his finances
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  and his businesses. In a private discussions with
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  donors, Trump has emphasized his preference for transactional
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  politics. Sources familiar with the
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  situation say that Trump views financial loyalty as a
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  cornerstone of his political machine.
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  That makes Musk's dissent unusually dangerous.
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  In Trump's view, Musk, who once boasted of being a free speech
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  absolutist, has found herself caught between asserting
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  political independence and preserving access to government
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  resources for him and also his companies.
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  Now, the dynamic matters to everybody.
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  Beyond personal grudges. Tech, CE, OS and federal
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  officials are always navigating a new era of policy influence.
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  Right now, where access and funding increasingly depend on
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  personal relationships rather than traditional lobbying or
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  merit, It looks like handshake deals are.
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  Happening. Throughout Trump's
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  administration, Musk had enjoyed a period of influence under
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  Trump, including friendly meetings and favorable public
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  comments staying at Trump's estates.
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  Now that influence is completely gone.
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  It's evaporated. Other tech leaders see this as
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  an opportunity to fill the void, though.
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  Executives of companies like Palantir and Andrill, both
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  heavily defence focused, see a pathway to gain favor with the
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  administration. Industry sources say these firms
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  are already increasing the federal lobbying efforts, giving
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  more and more money and positioning themselves as
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  alternative to Elon Musk. Now.
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  Mehta's leadership has also shifted its political tone,
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  aligning more closely with Trump's rhetoric in recent
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  months. Musk's misstep could create room
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  for new favourites of Trump to emerge now.
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  Musk's standing at Silicon Valley had already begun to
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  erode due to his erratic public statements and inconsistent
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  business focuses recently. And while respected for
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  engineering successes and managing Tesla and SpaceX, he's
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  frustrated partners and investors with unpredictable
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  behaviour and unkept promises. And losing Trump's favor could
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  further isolate him, especially if his corporate empire becomes
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  the target of scrutiny for Trump's administration.
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  One consequence of this view is a potential change in US space
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  policy. SpaceX currently dominates
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  government satellite launches and space logistics, and federal
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  agencies begin to shift contracts toward Blue Origin.
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  Whose Jeff Bezos his space venture could benefit
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  handsomely. Sources familiar with NASA's
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  current contract review process say the agency exploring ways to
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  diversify launch providers and lighted political risk
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  associated with single vendor dependency, such as SpaceX.
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  Now open AI, who of course Elon has been warring with for a
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  while. Sam Altman stands to benefit
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  from the political fallout as well.
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  Although Altman has his own ongoing feud with Elon Musk,
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  he's navigated the post election power structure with more
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  discretion. He repurposed a large scale data
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  center initiative as a federal infrastructure project and
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  secured a White House photo op shortly after Trump's
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  inauguration. His strategy earned him
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  credibility inside the administration without
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  attracting Musk style controversy.
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  Now, the silence from other tech leaders speaks volumes.
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  Here, most prefer to avoid choosing sides in the political
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  feud that could affect federal contracts and our trust actions
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  or export licenses. Many executives are quietly
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  hopeful that Musk's departure from Trump's inner circle will
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  ease policy negotiations and create a more predictable
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  business environment for their companies.
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  Now, the administration's treatment of Musk reveals how
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  Trump views power and loyalty, sees wealth and influence as
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  useful tools when they serve his political goals, and his
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  liabilities when they don't serve him anymore.
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  Musk helped fuel the Republican campaign in 2024, but in 2026,
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  that might not be enough to shield him from Donald Trump's
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  retribution. Trump's message is very blunt.
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  You can fund the opposition, but it will cost you.
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