The Trump-Musk Feud Comes Right At Tesla's Big 'What's Next' Moment

Tesla CEO Elon Musk picks a very big fight ahead of a very big moment for the company. Plus: Why we're impressed by the Hyundai Ioniq 9.

Patrick George

By: Patrick George

Jun 13, 2025 at 9:30am ET

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"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise," as the Book of Proverbs puts it. "And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

To put this in a more modern context: Maybe it's best to keep your mouth shut and not publicly accuse the President of the United States of being in the Epstein files right as you're about to launch the product you've bet your company's entire future on.

On today's Plugged-In Podcast, Tim Levin returns from vacation so that we can discuss a story we missed for last week's recording: the feud between President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. I won't recap the whole, sordid tale here, because unless you've been in a coma this past week, you've heard all about it.

Everyone has had a take on that news, so Tim and I try to drill down on a central question: What does this mean for Tesla and the EV race as a whole? It's especially worth asking since Tesla has finally set June 22 as the launch date for its long-awaited Robotaxi program in Austin.

While that launch will be fairly muted at first with about 10 or 12 driverless Model Ys picking up fares in a limited portion of the Live Music Capital of the World, Musk clearly has grand ambitions for the project, predicting millions of these cars on the road by next year. But we still have a ton of questions about how this is all going to work.

Finally, we wrap by talking about a car that Tim drove recently and I'm currently testing: the three-row Hyundai Ioniq 9. And it's turning out to be one of my favorite EVs I've experienced this year. Take a listen and hear why it nailed the brief.

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Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com