Marco Rubio Joins Elon Musk In Polish Minister Smackdown Amid Talk of Feud

Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio took to X, formerly Twitter, to shutdown a Polish minister’s claims about Starlink in Ukraine amid a report that the duo clashed just days ago.

Why It Matters

The New York Times last week reported that Rubio and Musk clashed at a cabinet meeting over the billionaire’s effort to cut down on federal spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an unofficial agency created through executive order.

President Donald Trump and the White House have denied the report, saying there was “no clash. I was there,” and accusing the reporter who asked him about the topic of being “a troublemaker.”

Trump insisted that “Elon gets along great with Marco” and that they’re “both doing a fantastic job. There is no clash.”

What To Know

Any signs of tension between Musk and Rubio would appear to be unlikely to derail Trump’s agenda, for now, as both men responded along similar lines to Polish minister Radoslaw Sikorski on X.

Sikorski responded to a post by Musk, in which the X owner and CEO said that “my Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”

The minister wrote that “Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year. The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.”

Musk responded a few hours later, writing: “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

Rubio then piled in, writing that Sikorski was “just making things up,” and “no one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink.”

“And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now,” Rubio wrote.

Sikorski directly responded to Rubio, diplomatically saying, “Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave soldiers of Ukraine can count on the vital internet service provided jointly by [USA] and [Poland]. Together, Europe and the United States can help [Ukraine] to achieve a just peace.”

Sikorski’s fellow minister Witold Zembaczynski backed up his colleague by writing, “Thank you. It’s so simple #standwithukraine not with war criminalist #Putin.”

Ukraine has tens of thousands of terminals set up throughout the country, including up to 500 units purchased by the U.S. Department of Defense in June 2023, according to the BBC.

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post last week about the meeting said: “We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people. We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Political scientist and podcaster Ian Bremmer in a reply to Musk’s insult to Sikorski wrote: “Don’t see what benefits the us government gets from insulting allies (or adversaries, for that matter, though it appears to be limited to allies).”

Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA posted to X on Friday: “President Trump SLAMS an NBC reporter for ginning up the ‘clash’ between Elon and Marco Rubio story: ‘No clash. I was there. You’re just a troublemaker’ Musk vs Rubio JD vs Don Jr. Pay attention. MSM wants us divided. Too bad!!”

What Happens Next

Trump during a press gaggle on Air Force One on Sunday evening said that the U.S. “just about” lifted a pause on military intelligence sharing with Ukraine as the two nations plan to meet in Saudi Arabia with Russian counterparts to discuss a peace deal. Rubio is expected to take part in those discussions.