Elon Musk praised as a ‘genius’ by President Trump
Is Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk in the same league as the man who is possibly the best-known inventor in American history, Thomas Edison?
That seems to be the view of President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday couldn’t stop heaping praise on Musk while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“He’s one of our great geniuses,” Trump said of Musk during an interview with CNBC. “And we have to protect our genius.”
Trump went on to compare Musk to Edison, who among other things is credited with inventing the light bulb and the phonograph, by saying such talents need to treated in a special manner.
“We have to protect Thomas Edison and we have to protect all of these people that came up with originally the light bulb and the wheel and all of these things,” Trump said. And he’s (Musk) one of our very smart people and we want to cherish those people. He’s done a very good job.”
Trump’s praise came amid what has been several months of success for Tesla. In early January, Tesla reported a record number of quarterly vehicle deliveries, and the company’s share price has already climbed by more than 36% this year, to $569.43 on Wednesday. The share gains have lifted Tesla’s market capitalization to more than $100 billion, and have made Musk potentially eligible to receive $347 million in company stock options as part of his performance-based compensation package.
In addition to calling Musk a genius, Trump sounded like he either wants Musk to build a large factory in the U.S., or isn’t aware of Tesla’s vehicle production facility in Fremont. Trump told CNBC that Musk has to builld “a very big plant” in the U.S because “we help him, so he has to help us.”
Trump and Musk have had some dealings with each other, but not for a few years. Musk was briefly on Trump’s business council in 2017, but stepped down after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris accords on climate change.
Trump also said he likes what Musk is doing as CEO of his other well known company, SpaceX.
“I spoke to him very recently, and he’s also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And he does good at rockets, too, by the way,” Trump told CNBC. “I never saw where the engines come down with no wings, no anything, and they’re landing. I said I’ve never seen that before.”
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s statements.