Trump calls Elon Musk's new party plan 'ridiculous'
New York (PTI): US President Donald Trump slammed Elon Musk after he formed a new political party, terming the move as "ridiculous" and saying the tech billionaire has gone "completely off the rails".
Musk, Trump's one-time ally, said in a post on X Saturday that he had set up the “American Party” to compete against the Republican and Democratic parties.
"I think it's ridiculous to start a third party," said Trump, speaking to reporters on Sunday before boarding Air Force One. "It's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to the confusion."
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said, “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks."
Musk even wants to start a third political party despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States, the US President said.
"The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS,” Trump added.
He claimed that the Tesla CEO was motivated by discontent over his plan to end subsidies to promote the purchase of electric vehicles.
Trump also accused Musk of seeking improper influence by asking him to nominate his friend, Jared Isaacman, to be NASA administrator.
After Musk left his role as a special government employee in the Trump administration, Isaacman’s nomination was also withdrawn.
“I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life,” Trump wrote.
Musk, the largest individual donor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, was a close adviser to Trump until recently.
Musk, who spearheaded the Trump administration’s push to cut government waste, had criticised Trump’s “big beautiful" tax and spending bill because of estimates that it would add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit.
The legislation was narrowly passed by Congress and signed into law by the president this week.
Musk’s criticism of the bill was the catalyst for a major falling out between the two men last month.
The world’s richest man has indicated he wants a party that is fiscally conservative and reins in spending, but has offered few other details about what the party’s platform would be.
The two-party system in the United States has long been criticised by both registered Democrats and registered Republicans, but efforts in the last century to form a third party have shown little success.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
