'Calling news anchors all day': Trump badgers reporters to 'dunk on Elon Musk'
The spat between President Donald Trump and Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – his top 2024 campaign donor — has quickly escalated into a very public feud. And Trump is apparently waging war against Musk through the media.
On Friday, Mediaite editor in chief Aidan McLaughlin tweeted that the 47th president of the United States "has been calling news anchors all day to dunk on Elon Musk," and isn't just sticking to conservative outlets. Along with Fox News' Bret Baier, Trump also called CNN host Dana Bash, ABC News White House reporter Jonathan Karl and CBS News national correspondent Robert Costa to attack the South African centibillionaire.
"Trump is not interested in talking to Elon, Trump is not worried about threats of a third party," Trump told Baier, according to Fox host (and former Trump White House press secretary) Kayleigh McEnany. She added that Baier said that Trump told him that Musk "has totally lost it."
Costa told his followers on X that Trump assured him in a call that "he is moving forward with his presidency today and 'totally' focused on policy matters, not Musk." Trump reportedly added that he doesn't "focus on anything else" outside of his job as president.
Meanwhile, Bash – CNN's chief political correspondent — told the network's John Berman that when Trump called her, he insisted that he is "not even thinking about Elon," and added that "the poor guy's got a problem."
"He said he won't be speaking to him for awhile but he said he wishes Elon Musk well," Bash continued, noting that men in the orbit of both Trump and Musk have been pushing for them to cease hostilities. "The blast radius from this fallout is really, really big and very wide."
Finally, Karl tweeted that when he spoke with Trump, the president argued that Musk was "the man who has lost his mind." The ABC reporter observed that Trump did not "seem angry or even concerned about the feud," and that he was "not particularly" interested in speaking with Musk to reconcile.