US President Joe Biden slammed Tesla CEO Elon Musk during a televised press conference on the state of the U.S. economy on Friday.
When asked about his thoughts on Musk’s statements about where things were headed, Musk was dismissed by Biden, wishing him “luck on his trip to the moon.”
The news broke on Tuesday that Elon Musk had emailed company executives that he plans to cut 10% of the electric car company’s jobs, putting in place a hiring freeze due to his fears about the state of the economy.
It isn’t Elon Musk’s trip to the Moon. It is America’s trip there. NASA picked SpaceX to help land astronauts on the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis mission. U.S. astronauts are slated to return to the Moon in 2025! A cool thing that Biden shouldn’t be dismissive about! https://t.co/sFdYTtEi8W
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) June 3, 2022
Musk also added that he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy.
Earlier this month, Musk sent out an email to Tesla execs and required them to “make sure all employees were coming into the office for work.”
“Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week,” Musk wrote.
Following the criticisms released by Tesla CEO Musk who has been a vocal critic of the US government, Biden responded to Musk’s “super bad feeling” at his press conference. The president fired back with a few comments and slammed the Tesla CEO about how other major car companies making electric vehicles are investing in the economy.
“Well, let me tell you, while Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly. I think Ford is increasing investment in building new electric vehicles, 6,000 new employees, union employees, I might add, in the Midwest,” Biden said.
“The former Chrysler Corporation, Stellantis, are also making similar investments in electric vehicles. Intel is adding 20,000 new jobs, making computer chips.” The president added.
President Biden also mocked Musk and said: “So, you know, lots of luck on his trip to the Moon. I mean, I don’t — I mean, you know…” Biden concluded on the subject, trailing off.
Following Biden’s statement, Musk responded on Twitter by sharing a NASA article reporting that “Musk’s SpaceX company will be providing the rocket systems that the U.S. government’s space program will use to get men to the moon on its upcoming Artemis program.”
“Thanks Mr President!” Musk tweeted.
