WASHINGTON/SAN FRAN­CISCO: Donald Trump on Tuesday ratcheted up attacks on Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, after Musk said Trump was too old to become the next US president and Trump needed to “sail into the sunset.”

The former US president said Musk would have “begged” him for government subsidies, in a message on his own social media app, Truth Social.

“When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidised projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless and tell me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, “drop to your knees and beg,” and he would have done it,” Trump wrote.

In response, Musk tweeted, “Lmaooo”. Musk said on Monday, “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.” Musk, who previously said he was leaning towards supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president in 2024, said DeSantis would easily defeat President Joe Biden in the election.

Musk’s remarks were in response to comments Trump made at a political rally on Saturday where he called Musk a “Bull***t artist” for claiming that he had never voted Republican until this June. He told me he voted for me,” Trump said. In another development, Twitter sued Elon Musk for breaching the $44 billion contract he signed to buy the tech firm, calling his exit strategy “a model of hypocrisy,” court documents showed.

Twitter lawsuit accuses US billionaire of contract breach as social network’s shares rise after firm takes long position

The suit filed in the US state of Delaware urges the court to order the billionaire to complete his deal to buy Twitter, arguing that no financial penalty could repair the damage he has caused.

“Musk’s conduct simply confirms that he wants to escape the binding contract he freely signed, and to damage Twitter in the process,” the lawsuit contended. “Twitter has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm as a result of defendants’ breaches.” The social media company’s shares edged up slightly in after-market trading when the news broke.

Legal experts and market analysts see Twitter as having a strong upper hand heading into court, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

“This will be a Game of Thrones battle in court with the fake account/bot issue front and center, but ultimately Twitter’s board is holding Musk’s feet to the fire to finish the deal at the agreed upon price,” Ives said.

“Overall this has been a black eye for Musk and horror movie for Twitter (and its employees) with no winners since the soap opera began in April.” After weeks of threats, Musk last week pulled the plug on the deal, accusing Twitter of “misleading” statements about the number of fake accounts, according to a letter from his lawyers included in a US securities filing.

In his first public remarks since the announcement, Musk took to Twitter over the weekend to troll the company after it said it would sue to enforce the deal. “They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info.

Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court,” he wrote in a tweet, with included pictures of Musk laughing with glee.

The termination of the takeover agreement sets the stage for a potentially lengthy court battle with Twitter, which initially had opposed a transaction with the unpredictable billionaire entrepreneur. Twitter has defended its fake account oversight and has vowed to force Musk to complete the deal, which contained a $1 billion breakup fee.

Meanwhile, short-seller Hindenburg Research said on Wednesday it had taken a long position in Twitter Inc shares, sending the stock up about 8pc, a day after the social media firm sued Elon Musk for backing out of his $44 billion deal.

Hindenburg did not elaborate on the threat the lawsuit poses to Musk, but legal experts have said that from the information that is public Twitter would appear to have the upper hand.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2022