At the beginning of June, Trump declared he would 'deal with' Musk, threatening to cut all of SpaceX's government orders. So what happened? The government's own people checked the accounts for a month, and the White House directly admitted defeat—wanting to shake off Musk? America's space hegemony would immediately collapse!
Powerful crushing: without SpaceX, the American space dream would directly come to a halt.
In the launch market, they have the final say: over 90% of satellites launched in the U.S. rely on SpaceX! Musk's rocket recovery and reuse technology has driven launch prices down to 'floor prices.' Those secret contracts with the Pentagon and NASA? The public portion starts at $22 billion, astronomical figures!
Sending people to space? Only they can do it! Now American astronauts rely entirely on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to travel to and from the space station. This is NASA's only certified option! If it really stops, American astronauts will immediately have to go back to the 'begging era'—shamelessly asking Russia for a ride on their spacecraft.
The U.S. military cannot do without him: from battlefield communications with Starlink, spy satellite networks, to the highly classified 'Golden Dome' project, SpaceX's Starshield department, which specifically serves the government, has already deeply embedded itself in the lifeblood of U.S. intelligence agencies. Want to pull out? It's as difficult as climbing to the sky!
Checking the accounts to find fault only exposes the government's 'incompetence.'
Trump's team originally wanted to put a big hat on 'misuse of public funds' and 'unsafe' to cut the contract. As a result, upon investigation, it actually gave SpaceX a hardcore advertisement:
High injury rates? The contract can't do anything about it! SpaceX's Texas base did have a few more accidents last year, with an injury rate six times higher than its peers. But going through NASA contracts—safety clauses didn't even trigger the 'termination of cooperation' red line! This clearly shows that the contract was designed to compromise with SpaceX's 'technological hegemony' from the start.
All opponents are 'weaklings': the government urgently seeks help from companies like Blue Origin and Rocket Lab, only to find that either the rockets are still being tested in the factory or their capacity doesn't even come close to SpaceX's. Looking for alternative suppliers? It's purely a dream within five years!
Musk scared NASA with a table flip: right after Trump threatened, Musk countered by saying he would 'retire the Dragon spacecraft.' Although he later retracted, it directly terrified NASA internally—they witnessed for the first time that a private company could actually hold national space strategy as a 'hostage'! The world watched the bizarre scene of 'commercially kidnapping a nation.'
Political mudslinging? Space interests are real gold and silver.
This farce is fundamentally a personal feud between Trump and Musk:
In June, Trump pushed the 'Big and Beautiful' tax bill, which Musk fiercely criticized as a 'fiscal disaster.' Musk then hinted at establishing a 'American Party,' which directly caused Tesla's market value to evaporate by 68 billion overnight!
In a fit of rage, Trump declared, 'Let the department that manages money check SpaceX's accounts!' intending to retaliate.
So what happened? Commercial reality ruthlessly crushed political mudslinging. NASA loudly claimed to 'find more suppliers,' but their actions were very honest—SpaceX President Shotwell and the White House closed the door for discussions, and most contracts were basically confirmed for renewal.
The monopoly monster has become, the government itself raised its 'father.'
This review farce is essentially the national machine bowing down to the commercial monopoly giant. SpaceX has turned the government into a 'hostage' with its exclusive technological barriers and deep binding with national defense.
NASA knows that their injury rate is high and their bargaining power is eroding, yet they don't even have the courage to cut supply—after all, compared to Musk's harsh words on Twitter that would force American astronauts to 'kneel and beg' for Russian spacecraft, that's the real nightmare!
What will the future hold?
In the short term: SpaceX will continue to gobble up government orders, its position unshakable.
In the long term: Congress may push for antitrust laws to try to break up this aerospace giant. But for competitors like Blue Origin, catching up? They still have to work hard for at least five more years!
This move taught everyone a lesson: in the face of an absolute technological moat, even the president's harsh words became a joke. Musk proved with strength that mastering core technology is the ultimate weapon for controlling discourse. The national machine? In front of the high walls built by disruptive innovators, sometimes it can only bow its head helplessly.
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