Donald Trump has called out Elon Musk at a recent rally, calling the tech mogul a “bullshit artist”.
On Saturday (July 9), Trump spoke at a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, during which he peddled his right-wing social network Truth Social.
The former US president called the budding platform “hot as a pistol” and compared it to Musk’s recent bid to buy Twitter for $44billion – a deal the Tesla CEO is now attempting to pull out of.
“I tell you what – Elon… Elon is not gonna buy Twitter!” Trump told the audience after mistakenly calling the Space X founder and ex-partner of Grimes “Leon”. “Where did you hear that before? From me. From me.”
Trump continued: “Nah, he’s got himself a mess. You know, he said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know that, he told me he voted for me.’ So he’s another bullshit artist, but he’s not gonna be buying it. He’s not gonna be buying it. Although he might later, who the hell knows what’s gonna happen. He’s got a pretty rotten contract. I looked at his contract, not a good contract. But he’s not…Sign up for Truth.”
You can see Trump call out Musk below:
Trump on Elon Musk: "You know, he said the other day, Oh, I've never voted for a Republican. I said, I didn't know that, he told me he voted for me. So he's another bullshit artist." pic.twitter.com/1cBiZsX1BJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 10, 2022
Earlier this year, when it was first reported that Musk had successfully acquired Twitter for approximately $44billion (£34.5b), the Tesla CEO said that Trump would be allowed back on the social media platform.
Speaking at a Financial Times conference, Musk described Twitter’s decision to permanently ban Trump as “morally bad” and “foolish in the extreme”.
“I would reverse the permanent ban,” Musk said. He continued: “I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake. It alienated a large part of the country, and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”
Musk said that by banning Trump, the social media platform risked creating a “frankly worse” forum.
Trump was kicked off Twitter, Facebook and YouTube following the failed insurrection attempt in the US in January 2021.
Twitter permanently banned Trump following the incident, citing repeated violations of its rules and that his tweets were “highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021”, referring to the attack on the Capitol building by his supporters.
Meanwhile, Musk‘s daughter has applied to legally change her name, in part as a means to sever ties with her father.