President Trump assailed Elon Musk on Sunday night, describing him as “off the rails” after Mr. Musk said he was creating a new political party amid an ongoing rift with the president.
“I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday evening. “He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States.”
Mr. Musk’s effort to create a new political party, called the America Party, is the latest rupture in his relationship with Mr. Trump. Mr. Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, and then Mr. Trump rewarded him with a wide-ranging position overseeing drastic cuts to government staffing and contracts.
Their close bond crumbled in a public spectacle last month, as Mr. Trump pushed his sprawling domestic policy bill through Congress. Mr. Musk panned the legislation, which is projected to add trillions to the federal debt, as a “disgusting abomination.” He has said he would support primary challengers against any Republican who voted for the legislation, which passed with almost unanimous Republican support, but he has given few details about his new political party.
“Backing a candidate for president is not out of the question, but the focus for the next 12 months is on the House and the Senate,” Mr. Musk wrote on X on Sunday.
Mr. Trump has also threatened to cut billions of dollars in federal contracts and tax subsidies for Mr. Musk’s companies.
Mr. Trump said Sunday night that Mr. Musk had opposed the legislation because it eliminated the electric vehicle mandate, which would have been a boon for Tesla, one of Mr. Musk’s companies.
“I have campaigned on this for two years and, quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate — It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had,” Mr. Trump wrote in his post. “He said he had no problems with that — I was very surprised!”
Mr. Musk did previously support ending the electric vehicle tax credits, but has done an about-face more recently, as Tesla’s sales have dropped this year.
Mr. Trump also said that Mr. Musk was furious that the president had pulled the nomination of Jared Isaacman, who previously worked at SpaceX and was a close friend of Mr. Musk’s, to run NASA. Mr. Trump withdrew the nomination after a White House official highlighted for Mr. Trump that Mr. Isaacman had previously donated to prominent Democrats.
Mr. Isaacman met with Mr. Trump during the transition and disclosed the donations before he was nominated. But as Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Musk was fracturing, a White House official resurfaced the donations, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Mr. Trump, who also has not walled off his or his family’s business interests from the government, offered another reason on Sunday for pulling Mr. Isaacman’s nomination.
“I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said on Sunday that the goals of Mr. Musk’s past government cost-cutting effort, through the Department of Government Efficiency, were popular. But the billionaire himself, Mr. Bessent said, was not.
“I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone,” he said on CNN on Sunday. “So 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.”
Maggie Haberman and Theodore Schleifer contributed reporting.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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