Former U.S. President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced plans to hold a “major interview” with Elon Musk next week, as announced on Trump’s social media platform.
Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be holding the interview with Musk on Monday night, adding that more details of the discussion would be announced soon. The interview comes as the latest in a series of supportive statements exchanged between the two, and weeks after Musk officially endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Credit: Donald Trump | Truth Social
Musk announced his support for Trump following the former President’s assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania last month. Some within the electric vehicle (EV) community have noted Trump’s many anti-EV sentiments over the years despite his more-recent support of Musk.
“I’m a big fan of electric cars. I’m a fan of Elon,” Trump said at a rally in June. “I like Elon, I like him, and I think a lot of people are going to want to buy an electric car.”
Following reports that claimed Musk was donating $45 million per month to the pro-Trump super Political Action Committee (PAC) America First, the Tesla CEO denied pledging “anything to anyone,” noting that he did create his own PAC supporting candidates that value meritocracy and personal freedom.
This note is false. I have not pledged anything to anyone!
I did create a PAC that is focused on supporting candidates who favor a meritocracy and personal freedom, but funding to date has been far below that level.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2024
Days later, Musk went on to say that he is, in fact, making some donations to America PAC:
Yeah, it’s ridiculous.
I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level and the key values of the PAC are supporting a meritocracy & individual freedom.
Republicans are mostly, but not entirely, on the side of merit & freedom.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2024
Although Trump has been more supportive of Musk in recent months, and although he has made a few positive statements about EVs here and there, he has recently gone back to the same tune on the technology. At a rally over the weekend, Trump said that he wanted EVs to be a “small slice” of the market, going on to talk about how expensive charger installation costs are and saying that they “don’t go far, they cost too much, [and] they’re all made in China.”
“Other than that they’re fantastic, and I’m for electric cars,” Trump continued. “I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly, Elon. So I have no choice.”
On Monday, conservative Kick streamer Adin Ross gifted Trump a Cybertruck wrapped with his photo immediately following the assassination attempt, although the former President had just wrapped a conversation about how bad he thought EVs were compared to gas cars. During the conversation, he once again highlighted his respect for Musk.
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson also released a video reviewing a Cybertruck in rural Maine on Monday, noting that he had personally reached out to Musk to see if the Tesla CEO would send him one for the review.
Elon Musk responds to Trump’s promise to end “EV mandate” on Day One
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Elon Musk
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
News
Tesla starts preparing for Optimus in its smartphone app
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
