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After Musk left his role as a special government employee in the Trump administration, Isaacman’s nomination was also withdrawn.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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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
