At one point in the interview, Trump praised Musk’s response to striking workers. He called Musk “the greatest cutter,” referring to the widespread layoffs the billionaire has issued at Tesla and Twitter.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk. “You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’”
Under federal labor laws, it’s illegal to fire workers who participate — or threaten to participate — in a protected strike. The UAW represents more than 400,000 workers in the automotive, aerospace, and agricultural industries in North America.
The union recently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential race, after previously endorsing President Joe Biden. Last year, the UAW also launched organizing campaigns at several automakers, including Tesla.
“Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected,” UAW President Shawn Fain says in a statement. “Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly.”
The federal labor charge is just one of the things that came out of Musk and Trump’s two-hour interview on X, which got off to a rough start due to some technical issues.