Trump slams Elon over EV mandate, NASA request, and party betrayal

Donald Trump, from inside the White House, took a blowtorch to Elon Musk on Sunday through a post on Truth Social.

The US president said, “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks.”

Trump also dismissed the third party idea completely, saying third parties have “never succeeded in the United States” because “The System seems not designed for them.” His warning? Third parties only lead to “complete and total disruption and chaos,” and Trump said the country already had enough of that from Democrats.

Elon announced the America Party on Saturday, claiming Americans want something new. He said his research showed voters preferred a new party by “a factor of 2 to 1.” He blamed both Republicans and Democrats for waste and corruption and called the US a “one-party system.”

Trump is not impressed. He called the Republican Party a “smooth running machine” and said it had just passed the biggest bill of its kind “in the history of our country.” That legislation, signed last week, killed the federal electric vehicle mandate. It was one of Trump’s longtime campaign goals.

Trump slams Elon over EV mandate, NASA request, and party betrayal

Trump made it clear the bill would let Americans choose what kind of cars they drive, be it gas, hybrids, or whatever tech comes next. He reminded Elon that this rollback wasn’t new, saying, “It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had.”

Trump said he even asked Elon if he knew the mandate would be removed, and Elon supposedly said he didn’t mind. Trump called that “very surprising” after Elon gave him a “total and unquestioned Endorsement.”

Then Trump brought up an older request from Elon: asking that a close friend run NASA. Trump said the man was talented but was “a blue blooded Democrat who had never contributed to a Republican before.” Trump added, “Elon probably was, also.”

He said it was inappropriate to put a friend of Elon’s, who was also in the space business, in charge of NASA, especially since NASA plays a major role in Elon’s companies. Trump said his priority was to “protect the American Public.”

Feud leads to threats, polls drop, and party divide grows

On June 28, Elon had tweeted, “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country.”

He called it “political suicide for the Republican Party.” On June 30, Trump pushed back and said he would use DOGE, a regulatory program that Elon once headed, to look into Elon’s business contracts with the federal government.

By July 1, Elon made it personal. He said he would financially support Rep. Thomas Massie’s reelection campaign. Massie voted against Trump’s bill. Trump then told reporters that same day he’d “take a look” at deporting Elon.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Novikov, a Russian politician, told TASS that Russia could offer Elon political asylum if things escalated further, but did add that Elon probably wouldn’t need it. As of now, Elon hasn’t said anything about that.

Meanwhile, a YouGov polling showed Elon’s net favorability among Republicans dropped 20 points in June, the lowest he’s ever scored with that group in their records. Still, he’s gaining interest elsewhere. A poll from Quantus Insights in early July showed almost 40% of Americans said they would support Elon’s new party. It’s unclear how that translates to actual votes, but it rattled both major parties.

Inside the MAGA camp, some were celebrating the split. A separate YouGov poll found that most Republicans sided with Trump in the feud, while most Democrats didn’t pick a side. When voters were asked how they felt about Elon’s attack on the GOP-backed bill, 56% said they agreed with him. Only 17% disagreed.

Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said on his War Room show that Elon might get “flipped” by Democrats, so Democratic California Congressman Ro Khanna urged his party to court Elon, saying it could benefit them in the long run.