Musk vs Trump

Money, fame and power are three things Donald Trump cares dearly about.So when Elon Musk, who currently beats him on all those counts, tells [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Money, fame and power are three things Donald Trump cares dearly about. So when Elon Musk, who currently beats him on all those counts, tells the former US president to “hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” it stings. Key reading: - [‘Unhinged’ 2020 Oval Office Meeting Portrayed in Jan. 6 Hearing]( - [Jan. 6 Panel Maps Path From ‘Wild’ Trump Tweet to Capitol Attack]( - [Trump Tried to Call a Witness After Last Hearing, Cheney Says]( - [Twitter Hits Back at Musk, Suing to Force $44 Billion Buyout]( The dressing down was all the more irritating given how it was delivered: in a casual tweet the same day Twitter sued its most famous user for trying to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy it. Trump can’t tweet back since he’s been banned from the social media tool he deployed so masterfully in office. Instead, he’s been lashing out at a rally in Alaska and from the virtual sidelines, calling Musk a “bullsh*t artist” among other things. The reason is that the world’s richest man backs a Republican for 2024 presidential elections who isn’t Trump. Musk also called Trump out on his age — a delicate topic not just for the former president but also the current occupant of the Oval Office, Joe Biden, three years Trump’s elder at 79. Musk backs 43-year-old Ron DeSantis, the charismatic Florida governor and Trump acolyte who has dialed up the Make America Great Again mantra several notches. Trump has reason to be worried. The Jan. 6 hearings into the 2020 attack on the US Capitol he tried to dismiss as boring have been everything but, and exposed just how erratic he’d become in his final days in power. A new poll shows nearly half of Republican voters would cast a ballot for someone other than him in 2024. Trump is expected formally to announce he’s running again as soon as this month — the logic being to snuff out whispers about his loosening grip on the GOP. But it might be too late for that. — [Flavia Krause-Jackson]( Click [here]( to sign up for our Equality Newsletter running tomorrow and share this newsletter with others. They can sign up [here](. Global Headlines Political chaos | Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa [fled]( to the Maldives on a military aircraft, having failed to fulfill a promise to resign that he made after protesters angry at his government’s role in leading the country to bankruptcy stormed his official residence over the weekend. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe — who had also vowed to quit but was instead installed as acting president — imposed a state of emergency as demonstrators occupied the president’s office and took over the national broadcaster. - Read our rolling coverage of the crisis [here](. Protesters at the Presidential Palace in Colombo on Sunday. Photographer: Jonathan Wijayaratne/Bloomberg Mideast mission | Biden will seek to [salvage]( relations with Saudi Arabia in a Middle East tour that starts today in Israel. The hope is that restoring relations with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman will secure a boost in Saudi oil production and help ease pump prices battering Biden’s approval ratings at home. But a deal is far from a given. - Russia’s exports of diesel and other fuel products that are being shunned by many in Europe over its war in Ukraine are [heading]( to the Middle East instead. The dollar has scope to rise more if US inflation data out today show a further acceleration, strategists say. June CPI probably increased 8.8% from a year earlier, the [largest jump]( since 1981, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey, which would keep the heat on the Federal Reserve on rates. Inflation is being driven in part by gasoline costs, putting pressure on Biden ahead of midterm elections in November. Covid’s shadow | Chinese financial markets are flashing [warning]( signs that another round of Covid-19 shutdowns could create more turmoil for the economy. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of stocks has lost almost 9% since June 28 as a new Covid subvariant threatens to paralyze factories, dampen consumer spending and hurt construction activity. - While Shanghai’s Covid cases appear to be leveling off, some residents have been urged to stockpile food and medicines as the fear of [another]( lockdown hangs over the financial hub. - China’s exports rose at a [faster pace]( than expected in June. Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [Fed Is Not Falling Into an Emerging Markets Trap: Shuli Ren]( - [European Drought Delivers an Energy Gift to Putin: Javier Blas]( - [Biden Should Call Off Iran Nuclear Talks: Bobby Ghosh]( Succession battle | Rishi Sunak, whose resignation last week helped trigger Boris Johnson’s downfall, heads the list of eight candidates seeking to replace him as Conservative Party leader and UK prime minister. The former chancellor of the exchequer has the most publicly declared [support]( from Tory MPs, with contenders requiring the backing of 20 lawmakers to secure a place in a first round of balloting today. Explainers you can use - [Higher Oil Prices Are Poised to Last for Months, If Not Years]( - [Why Croatia Sees Joining the Euro as Path to Security]( - [How China Is Opening Up Further to Global Investors]( Libya chaos | A standoff between rival governments for control of Libya that has seen crude facilities shut down is [threatening to undermine]( oil production in OPEC member states just as the cartel comes under pressure to boost supply. While Biden plans to address Libya’s “political gridlock” during his Middle East tour, the risk is that output will fall further as demonstrators shut down ports and oil fields to protest fuel and power shortages. Tune in for our weekly global politics Twitter Space at 8am ET today for a conversation with reporters in the Middle East and the US ahead of Biden’s trip. You can find the link via our [Politics Twitter handle]( at @bpolitics and it will also be available to listen to for a week afterward. News to Note - Mario Draghi said he won’t continue leading Italy’s government if the Five Star Movement leaves his coalition, ahead of a [confidence]( vote tomorrow in the Senate. - Financial chiefs of the world’s biggest economies meet in Bali this week as rapid inflation threatens to further [destabilize]( populations and turn fragile recoveries into recession. - Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida [jumped]( in polls taken after former Premier Shinzo Abe was assassinated and their ruling Liberal Democratic Party boosted its seats in an upper house election. - India is set to submit official plans to cut emissions to the United Nations, backing away from a [threat]( to withhold more commitments until rich nations increase funds for poorer countries. - Nationwide [protests]( in Panama that have blocked highways and ports will continue tomorrow despite a government decision to freeze the price of gasoline and some basic goods. And finally ... President Xi Jinping has used his power in China to impose the world’s strictest controls against Covid-19, yet there’s one pandemic measure he hasn’t pushed: vaccines. A first attempt at a mandate for shots was [aborted]( last week after a plan to stop people entering public venues in Beijing without proof of vaccination sparked an outcry, with Chinese social media users calling it an illegal curb on their freedoms and questioning how effective the vaccines are. A Covid-19 testing station in Shanghai. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022