President Donald Trump has recently commented on a survey that named Elon Musk as the most unpopular person in the United States at the moment.
This year has certainly been eventful for Musk, the CEO of Tesla. However, before diving into that, let’s focus on Trump’s unexpected response to being asked whether he misses his former ally. This individual left the Trump administration after circulating rumors about Trump’s involvement with the Epstein files and later advocating for his impeachment.
The 54-year-old later backtracked on some of these statements, expressing regret. “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” he wrote on the platform today (June 11).
On Wednesday (August 6), while unveiling plans that Apple will invest $100 billion in the US, the 79-year-old president was questioned about a Gallup poll indicating Musk as the least popular public figure in America right now.
The poll revealed that 61 percent of respondents viewed the Space X CEO unfavorably, whereas only 33 percent had a favorable opinion—resulting in a minus 28 percent difference, the lowest on the list.
Comparatively, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a minus 23 percent, while Trump himself was at minus 16 percent. “I don’t know [if] the poll’s accurate,” Trump remarked to reporters in the Oval Office. “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.”
Now, let’s take a brief look at Musk’s year.
In January, allegations surfaced accusing him of making a ‘Nazi salute’ at Trump’s inauguration victory rally—a claim Musk has denied.
Shortly after, Musk opposed the president’s $500 billion AI project, asserting it lacked ‘actual’ funding.
While serving as a special government employee, Musk led the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but he resigned two days before his scheduled exit.
His resignation was prompted by criticism of Trump’s significant legislative initiative, which features temporary tax cuts until 2028 and a tax freeze for overtime workers, labeling it a ‘disgusting abomination’.