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Trump, Musk Disagree, Fight Dirty
President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to cut off government contracts with billionaire Elon Musk‘s companies, while Musk suggested Trump should be impeached, turning their romance into an all-out brawl on social media.
The hostilities began when Trump criticized Tesla CEO Musk in the Oval Office. Within hours, the once-close relationship had disintegrated in full public view, as the world’s most powerful man and its richest launched personal barbs at one another on Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Wall Street traders dumped shares of Musk’s electric vehicle maker and Tesla closed down 14.3%, losing about $150 billion in market value.
It was Tesla’s largest single-day decline in value in its history.
Minutes after the closing bell, Musk replied, “Yes,” to a post on X saying Trump should be impeached.
Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress and are highly unlikely to impeach him.
The trouble between the two started brewing days ago, when Musk denounced Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill. The president initially held his tongue while Musk campaigned to torpedo the bill, saying it would add too much to the nation’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
Trump broke his silence on Thursday, telling reporters in the Oval Office he was “very disappointed” in Musk.
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said.
As Trump spoke, Musk responded in real time with increasingly acerbic posts on X.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” wrote Musk, who spent nearly $300 million backing Trump and other Republicans in last year’s election.
“Such ingratitude.
”In another post, Musk asserted that Trump’s signature tariffs would push the U.S. into a recession later this year.
Besides Tesla, Musk’s businesses include rocket company and government contractor SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink.
Musk, whose space business plays a critical role in the U.S. government’s space program, said that as a result of Trump’s threats he would begin decommissioning SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
Dragon is the only U.S. spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station.
The feud was not entirely unexpected. Trump and Musk are both political pugilists with sizable egos and a penchant for using social media to punch back against their perceived enemies, and many observers had predicted an eventual falling out.
Even before Musk’s departure from the administration last week, his influence had waned following a series of clashes with cabinet members over his cuts to their agencies.
For Trump, the fight was the first major rift he has had with a top adviser since taking office for a second time, after his first term was marked by numerous blow-ups.
Trump parted ways with multiple chiefs of staff, national security advisers and political strategists during his 2017-2021 White House tenure.
A few, like Steve Bannon, remained in his good graces, while many others, like Ambassador John Bolton, became loud and vocal critics.
After serving as the biggest Republican donor in the 2024 campaign season, Musk became one of Trump’s most visible advisers as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which mounted a sweeping and controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.
Musk was frequently present at the White House and made multiple appearances on Capitol Hill, sometimes carrying his young son.
Only six days before Thursday’s blowup, Trump and Musk held a joint appearance in the Oval Office, where Trump praised Musk’s government service and both men promised to continue working together.
A prolonged feud between Trump and Musk could make it more difficult for Republicans to keep control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
In addition to his campaign spending, Musk has a huge online following and helped connect Trump to parts of Silicon Valley and wealthy donors.
Musk had already said he planned to curtail his political spending in the future.
Soon after Trump’s Oval Office comments, Musk polled his 220 million followers on X:
“Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?”
Musk targeted what Trump has named his “big, beautiful bill” this week, calling it a “disgusting abomination” that would deepen the federal deficit. His attacks amplified a rift within the Republican Party that could threaten the bill’s prospects in the Senate.
Nonpartisan analysts say Trump’s bill could add $2.4 trillion to $5 trillion to the nation’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
Trump asserted that Musk’s true objection was the bill’s elimination of consumer tax credits for electric vehicles.
The president also suggested that Musk was upset because he missed working for the White House.“He’s not the first,” Trump said on Thursday.
“People leave my administration … then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile.”Musk wrote on X, “KILL the BILL,” adding he was fine with Trump’s planned cuts to electric vehicle credits as long as Republicans rid the bill of “mountain of disgusting pork” or wasteful spending.
He also pulled up past quotes from Trump decrying the level of federal spending, adding, “Where is this guy today?”
Musk came into government with brash plans to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. He left last week having cut only about half of 1% of total spending while causing disruption across multiple agencies.
Musk’s increasing focus on politics provoked widespread protests at Tesla sites in the U.S. and Europe, driving down sales while investors fretted that Musk’s attention was too divided.
A former Minister of Education, Dr. (Mrs) Obiageli Ezekwesili, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of suppressing civic freedoms and eroding citizens’ rights.
In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter) titled “A Memo to Nigerians: A Call to Collective Voice on the Shrinking Civic Space and Erosion of Citizens’ Rights in Nigeria,” Ezekwesili condemned what she described as a “deeply troubling trend” of growing state intolerance and repression of dissent.
She urged President Tinubu to immediately direct the Inspector-General of Police to release activist Omoyele Sowore and his colleagues, who were recently detained.
Ezekwesili also called on Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to publicly apologise to EiE Nigeria’s Executive Director, Yemi Adamolekun, and activist, Ms. Nafziger, over their reported harassment during a peaceful #EndSARS memorial event.
“The latest wave of actions against citizens by state security agencies reflects a deeply troubling trend — the steady shrinking of civic space and erosion of citizens’ fundamental rights in our democracy,” she wrote.
The former minister cited three recent incidents — the harassment of Adamolekun, the police clampdown on protesters demanding Nnamdi Kanu’s release, and the repeated arrests of Sowore despite a valid court order — describing them as evidence of “a dangerous pattern” of intolerance and abuse of power.
According to her, the Tinubu administration has become “intolerant of dissent, allergic to accountability, and fearful of citizens’ voices.”
“It is clear that President Tinubu is running a government and security apparatus that are increasingly intolerant of dissent. True strength of a government lies not in silencing critics, but in protecting those who speak truth to power,” she stated.
Ezekwesili urged Nigerians to defend their democratic rights, stressing that sovereignty belongs to the people, not the government.
“Nigeria’s democracy cannot survive on the silencing of conscience. Every act of repression against one citizen diminishes the liberty of all,” she warned.
”We must collectively safeguard our right to speak, assemble, and demand accountability. Our democracy must not become one without citizens.”
The United States government has revoked the non-immigrant visa of Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate.
In a letter dated October 23 and signed by the US consulate-general in Lagos, Soyinka was directed to present his passport at the consulate for physical cancellation of the visa.
Soyinka spoke during a media parley held in Lagos on Tuesday, where he read excerpts from the official correspondence sent to him.
“This letter serves as official notification by the United States Consulate General in Lagos that the nonimmigrant visa listed below has been revoked pursuant to the authority contained in U.S. Department of State regulations 22 CFR 41.122 and is no longer valid for application for entry into the United States,” the letter reads.
The Nobel laureate said he could not identify the specific offence that led the revocation of his visa by the US government.
Soyinka said he applied for the visa after he received a letter from the US Internal Revenue Service about an audit for tax returns.
He explained that his trip was to resolve the tax issues, adding that he wanted to prevent a situation where the US might advertise him as a “tax dodger” to the world.
Soyinka made reference to how he discarded his US green card after President Donald Trump assumed office in his first term.
The Nobel laureate said he wondered whether his visa was revoked because he described Trump as “Idi Amin in white face”.
“It is necessary for me to give this press conference so that people in the United States who are expecting me for their event, not to waste their time. I have no desire,” he said.
“It is necessary for me to give this press conference so that people in the United States who are expecting me for their event, not to waste their time. I have no desire,” he said.
“I have written a lot of plays about Idi Amin. Maybe it is about time I also write about Donald Trump. Literary compliment. Maybe he would reconsider and restore my visa.
“I want to reassure the US Consulate that I’m very contend with the revocation of my visa. Individual citizens are free to interact with me.”
In September, Soyinka said he would not honour an invitation by the US consulate in Lagos for a visa interview scheduled for September 11, 2025.
TheCable
Cameroon ’s top court on Monday declared incumbent Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president, the winner of the Oct. 12 election. Clashes with security forces left at least four protesters dead ahead of the announcement as opposition supporters rallied to demand credible results.
Biya, 92, has led the central African nation since 1982. The Constitutional Council said he received 53.66% of votes while former ally-turned-challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary got 35.19%. The turnout was 57.7%.
In a social media post after the declaration, Tchiroma said that there was gunfire directed at civilians and two people were shot dead in his hometown in Garoua.
He said: “Toll of their attack: two dead. I wonder what will be said this time? Shooting point-blank at your own brothers — I can’t help but wonder if you’re mercenaries. Kill me if you want, but I will liberate this country by any means necessary. What blatant impunity.”
The four protesters were shot dead in Douala, the economic capital, on Sunday, as hundreds of people stormed streets in several cities. Tchiroma had claimed victory days before Monday’s announcement, citing results he said were collated by his party. Biya dismissed the claim.
According to Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, governor of the Littoral Region that includes Douala, several members of the security forces were injured by protesters. He said at least 105 protesters were arrested.
Dozens of opposition supporters, activists and leaders have been arrested in recent days. Paul Atanga Nji, minister of territorial administration, said on Saturday the government arrested several people plotting violent attacks.
One protester, Oumarou Bouba, a 27-year-old trader in Maroua, said: “I am ready to stake my life to defend my vote. I voted for Tchiroma because I want change.”
Following the announcement of the results, Sani Aladji, a 28-year-old who works in a hotel in Maroua, said: “Nothing will change. I expected that Issa Tchiroma would bring change, which is why I voted for him. There’s rampant corruption under Biya’s regime. We are tired of that. We don’t have roads.”
Biya has ruled Cameroon longer than most of its citizens have been alive. Over 70% of the country’s almost 30 million population is below 35. The election has been the latest dramatic example of tension between Africa’s youth and the continent’s many aging leaders.
He first came to power in 1982 following the resignation of Cameroon’s first president and has ruled the country since then, later benefiting from a constitutional amendment that abolished term limits.
Critics accuse Biya of leading Cameroon from a period of relative stability into one of crisis and conflict. The country in recent years has faced attacks by Boko Haram militants in the north and a secessionist insurgency in the country’s English-speaking North West and South West regions.
That crisis, triggered by the government’s attempts to impose French in English-speaking schools and courts, has killed nearly 7,000 people, displaced more than one million more internally and sent thousands fleeing to neighboring Nigeria.
Despite Cameroon being an oil-producing country that is experiencing modest economic growth, young people say the benefits have not trickled down beyond the elites. According to World Bank data, the unemployment rate stands at 3.5%, but 57% of the labor force aged 18 to 35 works in informal employment.
“Many young people across the country and in the diaspora had hoped for change, but that their hopes have been dashed. It feels like a missed opportunity,” said Dr Emile Sunjo, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Buea. “Cameroon could potentially slide into anarchy.”
Source: AP
