Never one to suffer slights lightly, business magnate Elon Musk lit up President Joe Biden on Tuesday after Biden praised Ford and GM for their efforts to build electric vehicles but neglected to mention Tesla, Musk’s brand.
During his speech, Biden insisted his administration will create 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.
He then praised General Motors and Ford.
“Ford is investing $11 billion to build electric vehicles, creating 11,000 jobs across the country. GM is making the largest investment in its history—$7 billion to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan,” he said.
When the comment was published on Twitter, Musk, who rarely shies away from controversy, struck back.
“Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined,” Musk wrote, adding a jab that read, “fyi to person controlling this twitter.”
Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined
[fyi to person controlling this twitter]
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2022
Musk’s response drew notice.
Posted 40 minutes after Brandon with 6 times more likes so far. Let’s see where this ends up. pic.twitter.com/Fyx4Q77P0E
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) March 2, 2022
Savage! by Elon Musk on Joe Biden’s electric car manufacturing in the US.
Harsh but fair.#Biden #Tesla #StateOfTheUnion pic.twitter.com/SkGhnyWwqY
— Bernie’s Tweets (@BernieSpofforth) March 2, 2022
CNBC reported in February that Musk had previously complained to it about the treatment at the hands of the Biden administration.
“The notion of a feud is not quite right. Biden has pointedly ignored Tesla at every turn and falsely stated to the public that GM leads the electric car industry, when in fact Tesla produced over 300,000 electric vehicles last quarter and GM produced 26,” Musk wrote in an email, according to CNBC.
“It got to the point, hilariously, where no one in the administration was even allowed to say the word ‘Tesla’! The public outrage and media pressure about that statement forced him to admit that Tesla does in fact lead the EV industry. I wouldn’t exactly call that ‘praise,’” Musk wrote after Biden -– who praised GM and Ford in January -– mentioned Tesla last month.
Musk, one of the most influential men in the world, has been left in the cold while other business leaders are invited to the White House.
He said he suspects that fears of him speaking his mind have led to him being banned.
“They have nothing to worry about,” Musk wrote to CNBC. “I would do the right thing.”
However, according to CNBC, the White House is wary of a man who once called Biden a “damp sock puppet in human form.” That comment came in January, according to the New York Post, after Musk was not invited to a White House meeting of major CEOs.
Elon Musk called Biden a “damp sock puppet” in a tweet after he claims the president continually fails to recognize Tesla as a top EV maker. https://t.co/ptD4l8teSc
— Intl. Business Times (@IBTimes) February 7, 2022
Citing sources it did not name, CNBC reported that Biden’s advisers are in fact worried that the presence of Musk at a White House event could lead to uncontrolled complications.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
