Vice President Vance praised his boss, President Trump, in light of his bitter public spat with tech billionaire Elon Musk, arguing the notion that the commander in chief is “short-tempered” is “ridiculous.”
“There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he’s impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that’s ridiculous,” Vance wrote in a Friday morning post on the social platform X.
“It’s (maybe) the single biggest disconnect between fake media perception and reality,” the vice president added.
Musk and Trump engaged in a fiery back-and-forth Thursday, starting with Trump’s remarks, during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, suggesting Musk’s criticism of the “big, beautiful bill” was driven by his business interests.
Musk has said the massive tax and spending bill would balloon the national debt, undermining his efforts to rein in government spending. After Trump’s comments, he wrote on X that Trump only won the election because of his, and accused the president of “ingratitude.”
Musk then floated the idea of creating a third-party, supported calls for Trump to be impeached and accused the president of being named in the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein’s files.
The president, in turn, threatened to do away with billions of dollars of federal contracts for the entrepreneur’s companies. Musk said he would decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, but later appeared to reverse course.
Musk signaled he is open to making peace with Trump later Thursday: After Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square, said the former allies should make “peace” and that the country would be better for it, Musk replied on X, “You’re not wrong.”
Vance said late Thursday on X that Trump “has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I’m proud to stand beside him.”
On Friday, Trump said in a brief interview with CNN that he is “not even thinking about Elon.”
“He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem,” the president said.
Trump also told CNN he will not be speaking with Musk “for a while I guess, but I wish him well.”
The president is considering giving away or selling the red Tesla he bought earlier this year, a senior White House official told The Hill’s sister network NewsNation on Friday morning. The vehicle was still parked at the White House as of Friday morning.
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