The Divided States: Internet urges Modi for “ceasefire” as Trump, Musk spar in public!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The Internet was flooded on Friday with social media users requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a ‘ceasefire’ between warring US President Donald Trump and his estranged billionaire-funder Elon Musk who have been firing on all cylinders this week, making the world puzzled and the markets panicking.
Their memes reminded the people how Trump sought to take credit for the May 20 “ceasefire”, announcing that he persuaded PM Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Shehbaz Sharif to smoke the peace pipe during Operation Sindoor.
On Thursday, Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla lost a whopping USD 150 billion in market value as his ongoing war against Trump intensified. They both have been firing incessantly at each other from the trenches of social media, with the US President threatening his businesses, and the billionaire threatening to ‘expose’ Trump on multiple scores, the media reported.
A day after he condemned the “Big and Beautiful Bill,” passed by the Congress, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk warned that Trump’s aggressive new trade tariffs could plunge the US economy into a recession by the second half of 2025, intensifying a high-profile clash between the world’s richest man and America’s President.
His remarks, posted on X (formerly Twitter), responded to a user who called Trump’s tariffs “super stupid.” “The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year,” Musk wrote, adding, “If America goes broke, nothing else matters.”
The comments sent shockwaves through financial markets, with Tesla’s stock plummeting over 14 percent on Thursday, wiping out nearly USD 150 billion in market value. The tension between the duo has been going since past few days, with the tech billionaire openly criticizing the President’s signature spending bill.
Trump expressed “disappointment” in Musk, criticizing the billionaire’s attacks on his tax cuts and spending plans. “I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here,” Trump told reporters.
“All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed a problem when he found out we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate.”
But peacemakers from both sides were busy trying for a ceasefire and bring together the two dealmakers. On Friday, the media reported, they cooled down a little and may, after all, stop trading blows as both are bruised, and are nursing their wounded egos.
After a few days of proxy war, their public sparring started with Trump saying he was “disappointed” with Musk’s criticisms of his signature spending bill, with Musk then accusing the President of “ingratitude”
And, after hours of back and forth, Trump appeared to downplay the situation, telling Politico: “Oh it’s okay”, with Musk also appearing to believe there’s a need to patch things up.
The White House aides have scheduled a call between the pair today.
Musk’s companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, have direct contacts with the US government. On Thursday, he walked back from an earlier threat to decommission a crucial SpaceX Dragon spacecraft used by NASA’s US astronauts.
But the last word is yet to be uttered…
