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'He's 80% brilliant and 20% bad moments' - Trump swings between praise and jabs at Elon Musk

"US President Donald Trump both praised and criticised tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday, describing him as '80 percent brilliant and 20 percent bad moments' during a roundtable event in Wisconsin's Chippewa Falls on Friday. "Look, Elon, he had a bad moment, but now he's a friend of mine again. He had a very bad moment. He's 80 percent brilliant and 20 percent I thinks he's got little bad moments," Trump stated. Trump was criticising electric vehicle mandates while speaking to farmers, claiming such policies were 'insane' and would have required tractors and cars to be fully electric. "I love electric cars, but you know what? Not everybody wants them. [...] I think they're great, but I also want to see all gasoline. I want to see the hybrids, which are great. I want you to have anything," Trump said. He also mocked the idea of electric-powered tractors operating in the field, saying they would require frequent recharging and would not be practical for farmers working long hours. 

"It wouldn't have worked very long. You would have had to stop every 15 minutes to get a new charge," the president claimed. Trump visited western Wisconsin, a key farming region, to support Republican Representative Derrick Van Orden's bid for re-election ahead of the upcoming mid-terms. With midterms approaching in the competitive Third District, Trump is aiming to shore up farmer support amid concerns over tariffs and rising fuel costs linked to the conflict in Iran and subsequent disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz."