Trump Says Elon Musk Is Building Second US Gigafactory Because “He Has To”

So much so that, in a recent interview, Trump vouched to “protect” Musk because “he’s one of our great geniuses.” The President didn’t say what Musk needed protection from, but he did note that said protection would extend to Thomas Edison and whoever invented the wheel.

“I was worried about him, because he’s one of our great geniuses, and we have to protect our genius,” Trump said in a CNBC interview taken on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “You know, we have to protect Thomas Edison and we have to protect all of these people that came up with originally the light bulb and the wheel and all of these things.”

One of these things is not like the others, though. Musk is very much alive, while Edison died 89 years ago (in 1931). The caveman who invented the wheel has long turned into actual dust.

In addition to offering protection, the Prez also spoke about Tesla’s plans to open a second Gigafactory in the United States – plans Tesla never said anything about, since the focus is on international expansion right now.

“[Musk] is going to be building a very big plant in the United States. He has to. Because we help him, so he has to help us,” Trump said.

Of course, the President of a country could be privy to information not yet revealed to the general public (like a company’s expansion plans, for instance), so it could very well be that Trump is accidentally and oh-so-nonchalantly sharing info about great things to come. However, he could also be merely telling Musk that he should build that factory because he owes it to his country.

Just recently, Tesla became the first U.S. company to be valued at $100 billion, beating General Motors and Ford. It looks like Elon Musk is doing just fine without Presidential protection.