Elon Musk says 'a lot of people' in the Trump administration 'were effective at getting things done' – aside from Trump
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a swipe at the Biden administration on Tuesday.
- Musk has had a mostly one-way feud with President Biden over electric cars.
- The billionaire also vaguely praised the Trump administration.
Tesla CEO and prospective Twitter buyer Elon musk offered his two cents comparing the Biden administration to the Trump administration.
Speaking at a tech conference in Miami on Tuesday, Musk also predicted the US will be in a recession for 18 months.
On politics, Musk said the Biden administration printed "a zillion more dollars than it has." The role of printing money is handled by the Treasury Department and largely depends on the activity of the Federal Reserve. Biden's agenda on the other hand relies on Congress' appropriations — and "doesn't seem to get a lot done," Musk added.
Musk has expressed a frosty attitude toward Biden going back to the 2021 infrastructure bill negotiations, where the businessman didn't take kindly to the president not mentioning his electric vehicle company in favor of promoting new models from the likes of Ford.
The Trump administration, Musk countered, struck him as more effective.
"The Trump administration, leaving Trump aside, there were a lot of people in the administration who were effective at getting things done," Musk said.
The billionaire did not specify which Trump officials he thought were doing a particularly good job at the time.
In his first 100 days in office, Trump signed more bills than either Biden or former President Barack Obama within the same timeframe, but Biden signed more executive orders, nominated more judges, and got more Senate-confirmed appointments than Trump — despite a 50-50 split requiring Vice President Kamala Harris to make tiebreaking votes — according to an NBC News analysis.
Musk's latest jab at Biden adds to a seemingly growing feud between the two powerful men after the White House on Monday blamed the nation's high inflation on billionaires and the Tesla CEO punched back in a tweet.