3 weeks ago
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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Teamsters Union leader Sean O’Brien weighed in on the ongoing clash between Elon Musk and President Donald J. Trump, stating that the fight proves Trump puts American workers first over donor interests. O’Brien has emerged as a staunch ally of the Trump White House and its pro-American trade agenda.
👥 Who’s Involved: Sean O’Brien, the Teamsters Union, President Donald J. Trump, and Elon Musk.
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📍 Where & When: O’Brien’s comments were made on social media late Thursday night, June 5, 2025.
💬 Key Quote: “If Elon’s temper tantrum has revealed anything, it’s that [President Donald J. Trump] isn’t bending over for big donors, no matter if it’s SpaceX, the Chamber of Commerce, or the Right to Work Foundation,” O’Brien wrote.
⚠️ Impact: O’Brien’s comments suggest the political realignment in the United States continues apace, with the Republican Party under President Trump becoming a more pro-working-class, populist political coalition.
IN FULL:
Sean O’Brien, the General President of the Teamsters Union, argues that the falling out between President Donald J. Trump and billionaire technology mogul Elon Musk proves the former is dedicated to putting American workers first. In a series of late-night posts on X (formerly Twitter), O’Brien, who was the first Teamsters leader in history to address the Republican National Convention, blasted Musk over the billionaire’s erratic social media posts attacking Trump and claiming credit for Republican wins in the 2024 election.
“Let’s get one thing straight: [President Donald J. Trump] wasn’t elected by Elon,” O’Brien wrote. “He won because working people have had enough of ego-driven billionaires like [Elon Musk] who want to run away to Mars only after they eliminate every decent job in this country.”
Musk’s attack on Trump’s tariffs—aimed at reshoring American jobs and restoring the nation’s manufacturing sector—appears to have prompted the response from O’Brien.
Notably, President Trump has enacted historic tariffs, which have brought over 100 nations to the negotiating table, seeking bilateral trade agreements. The National Pulse reported earlier this week that Vietnam—in an effort to reduce the tariffs on their products—has already agreed to increase their annual purchases of U.S. agricultural products to $2 billion. Such agreements are likely to have a significant impact on reducing the U.S. trade deficit overall.
“[Elon Musk] will abandon America—and Planet Earth itself—if it means he can stop Tesla’s stock implosion,” the Teamsters chief wrote in another post referring the historic collapse of Tesla’s stock value Thursday afternoon, adding: “If Elon’s temper tantrum has revealed anything, it’s that [President Donald J. Trump] isn’t bending over for big donors, no matter if it’s SpaceX, the Chamber of Commerce, or the Right to Work Foundation.”
“Thanks to this President, the GOP is changing, and for the better. We all need to be committed to working people if we want a better future, in our own country and across the globe,” O’Brien said.
In other posts, the Teamsters General President got a bit personal, writing: “Never forget that Elon doesn’t believe in America. Never has, never will. He brags about leaving this planet. He dreams of robots and rockets and money.” He added: “Have fun terraforming Mars with your kid army and incestuous space brood, [Elon Musk]. The rest of us don’t have escape pods. We have work in the morning.”
Taking another dig at Musk’s penchant for fathering children with multiple women, O’Brien quipped: “The only thing [Elon Musk] is worse at than colonizing Mars is respecting working people… and remembering to pull out.”
PULSE POINTS:
What Happened: President Donald J. Trump suggested terminating billions in government contracts and subsidies to Elon Musk’s companies as a way to save budget funds, following Musk’s criticism of Trump’s “one big beautiful bill.” Musk responded by saying the President is “in the Epstein files”—but this is already a matter of public record, as previously reported by The National Pulse.
Who’s Involved: President Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk, SpaceX, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
Where & When: Trump announced his stance on Truth Social on June 5, 2025, Musk responded on X (formerly Twitter) the same day.
Key Quote: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote.
Impact: Musk’s Tesla firm is already substantially down in the stock market, and his SpaceX company would be badly damaged if it lost its government contracts.
IN FULL:
President Donald J. Trump suggested the most straightforward way to save billions of dollars from the government’s budget is to terminate the billions of dollars in contracts and subsidies awarded to former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) frontman Elon Musk’s companies. Musk lashed out by saying he is “in the Epstein files” in response.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: [Donald Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) platform, adding, “Have a nice day, DJT!”
He later doubled down, telling his followers, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.” However, it is already a matter of public record that President Trump is referenced in the Epstein files that the administration has already released. The National Pulse reported in February that the released files, comprised of Epstein’s flight and phone call logs, include Trump’s name, which Epstein listed in his phone book.
It seems unlikely that Musk has knowledge of anything more nefarious than this, declaring, “I love [Donald Trump] as much as a straight man can love another man” in February, and regularly bringing his children to spend time with the President at the White House and his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Subsequent to his Epstein insinuations, Musk agreed with a social media user that Trump should be impeached and replaced with Vice President J.D. Vance.
Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Musk stepped down as the face of DOGE at the end of May, having achieved a reported—but questionable—$175 billion in savings out of an initially promised $2 trillion. Shortly afterwards, he began attacking the pending “one big beautiful bill” championed by President Trump, on the grounds that it will increase the deficit.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said he had asked Musk to leave government because he was “wearing thin,” and that the true source of the electric carmaker’s anger with the bill is that it “took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted.”
He added that the “easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” adding: “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
Musk’s SpaceX company, in particular, relies heavily on contracts with NASA, the Department of Defense, and other government agencies.
Trump’s team says the bill fulfills key campaign promises, including increased funding for border security and defense and new cuts to taxes on tips, overtime, and social security. The administration argues it will not increase but actually reduce the deficit by around $6.6 trillion over the next decade via spending cuts coupled with Trump’s tariffs and deregulation agenda.
Notably, much of the spending Musk is concerned with cannot be addressed in the “one big beautiful bill” because it is a reconciliation bill, and reconciliation bills deal only with nondiscretionary spending, excepting Social Security, rather than the discretionary spending which has been DOGE’s focus.
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