Donald Trump ripped Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday, the same day Musk reportedly defended the former president at a closed-door conference of media and tech moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Trump slighted Musk a day after the head of SpaceX announced he was abandoning his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
Trump called BS at a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, citing Musk’s claims that he has voted for Democrats in the past — but will switch to Republican candidates the next election cycle.
Yet Musk told Trump that he voted for him, the former president claimed at the rally. “So he’s another bullshit artist,” Trump said disdainfully.
Trump also called Musk “Leon” in his speech before changing it to “Elon,” noting: “Elon is not gonna buy Twitter. Where did you hear that before? From me.”
Trump said in May that there was “no way” Musk would pay such a “ridiculous price” for Twitter.
Meanwhile, Musk complained on Saturday about Twitter’s treatment of Trump, Bloomberg reported. Trump was permanently banned form the social media platform “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Musk made the comment at the annual Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference, where he was a featured speaker. But he reportedly refused to discuss details of his decision to drop the Twitter deal.
Musk talked instead about boosting the word’s population (apparently beginning with his own surprise total of nine children) and developing a colony on Mars, which he called “civilian life insurance” in the the event of disaster on Earth, sources told Bloomberg and Reuters.
Problems quickly arose with Musk’s Twitter deal earlier this year. Shortly after he expressed interest in the purchase in April, he started to bash the company and Twitter stocks took a dive.
He complained about what he claimed was Twitter’s poor accounting of spam accounts — even though it has regularly reported its estimates.
Musk said Friday he was terminating the offer, citing “material breach of multiple provisions” of the agreement and alleging Twitter failed to respond to multiple requests for information on fake or spam accounts.
The chair of Twitter’s board, Brett Taylor, said Friday that the board is “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.”
Musk could be on the hook for a $1 billion termination fee even if he convinces a judge to let him back out of the deal.
Trump, who was himself once called a “bullshit artist” by CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria, on Saturday urged his audience at the Alaska rally to join Truth Social, the social media platform created by his company.