President Donald Trump offered his support for Elon Musk following the release of a Gallup poll showing Musk at the bottom of the favorability rankings among 14 major public figures in the U.S.
“I don’t know [if] that poll’s accurate. I think he’s a good person. I think he had a bad moment, really bad moment. But he’s a good person. I believe that,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News, responding to a question about the poll results.
The Gallup survey, conducted between July 7 and July 21, showed Musk’s net favorability dropping from -4 in January to -28 in July. Just 33% of Americans viewed him positively, while 61% had a negative view, reflecting a sharp 24-point swing.
In contrast, the poll indicated that public figures like Pope Leo XIV, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Senator Bernie Sanders maintained favorable net ratings. Trump, along with others such as Joe Biden, J.D. Vance, and Marco Rubio, received negative net scores.
That same day, the Trump administration officially ended a Musk-endorsed policy that required federal workers to submit weekly reports on their productivity, according to Reuters.
This policy, known as the “five things” email, had been implemented in February during Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In a memo, the Office of Personnel Management announced the reporting system would be discontinued.
Musk resigned from his post in DOGE in May. At his departure event hosted at the White House, Trump remarked, “Elon is really not leaving.”
However, by June, tensions had risen after Musk publicly condemned a major tax and spending package, referring to it as a “disgusting abomination.”
He also pledged to campaign against any Republican who supported the bill. In response, Trump expressed disappointment and took to Truth Social, stating, “the easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon’s government subsidies and contracts.”
Shortly afterward, Trump pulled back his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close associate of Musk, to lead NASA. This was seen as a calculated move to diminish Musk’s standing in the administration. Previously, the White House had already begun sidelining Musk from influencing hiring and fiscal policy.
In an official White House comment, the administration said, “an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
Despite the fallout, Musk had invested heavily in supporting Trump’s 2024 bid and GOP candidates, pouring over $300 million into campaign efforts. During his government tenure, he pursued aggressive downsizing of federal departments and spearheaded initiatives like the “five things” mandate, which sparked resistance among civil servants and created friction with agency heads.
The ongoing conflict between Trump and Musk has also weighed on Tesla’s performance, with the company’s stock price tumbling more than 20% since the beginning of the year.
{Matzav.com}
