Trump on Astronauts’ $5/Day Pay: “I’ll Pay It Out of My Own Pocket”; Tesla Arsonists Are “Terrorists”; Deportation Authority

President Trump fielded a rapid-fire series of questions in March 2025 that produced multiple headline moments. When told the two stranded astronauts had received only $5 per day in per diem — $1,430 for 286 extra days in space — Trump responded: “If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket.” He thanked Elon Musk for the SpaceX rescue, called the people burning Tesla dealerships “terrorists” who faced 20 years in prison with “no leniency and no pardons,” and flipped a question about deportation authority back on the reporter: “Did Biden have the authority to allow millions of people to come into our country, totally unvetted and totally unchecked?"

"$5 a Day” and “I’ll Pay It Out of My Own Pocket”

The exchange began with a reporter revealing a detail that was both absurd and infuriating.

“The two astronauts that you just helped save from space, they didn’t get any overtime pay for all that extra time,” the reporter said. “They got $5 a day per diem for 286 days. That is $1,430 in extra pay. Is there anything the administration can do to get them to make them whole?”

Trump’s reaction was immediate: “Well, nobody’s ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket, okay? I’ll get it for them.”

He paused on the amount: “Is that all? That’s not a lot. But what they had to go through.”

The $1,430 figure was, on its face, scandalous. Two astronauts who had been stranded in space for nine months — subjected to the physical deterioration of prolonged weightlessness, separated from their families, trapped in a situation created by a contractor’s equipment failure — had received per diem compensation that would not cover a month’s rent in most American cities. The bureaucratic system that produced this outcome was the same system that had failed to bring them home in the first place.

Trump’s offer to pay personally was characteristic — a gesture that combined genuine generosity with political instinct. The billionaire president offering to write a personal check for astronauts shortchanged by their government was an image that required no spin.

”Thank Elon Musk”

Trump pivoted to acknowledge the role SpaceX had played in the rescue.

“And I want to thank Elon Musk, by the way, because think of — we don’t have him,” Trump said. “You know, there’s only so long, even though they’re in the capsule up there, that the body starts to deteriorate after 9 or 10 months, and gets really bad after 14, 15 months with the bones and the blood and all the things that you’ve been reporting on very well.”

He posed the counterfactual: “And if we don’t have Elon, they could be up there a long time. Who else is going to get them?”

The question was rhetorical but its implications were real. Without SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the only alternatives for returning the astronauts would have been the Russian Soyuz — politically complicated given the Ukraine conflict — or waiting for Boeing to fix the Starliner, a timeline that was uncertain at best. Musk’s company had, in the most literal sense, provided the only viable ride home.

Trump’s gratitude for Musk carried a political subtext as well. The acknowledgment came as Musk was facing unprecedented hostility for his role in the DOGE government efficiency initiative.

”These People Are Terrorists”

Trump was asked about the wave of arson attacks targeting Tesla dealerships across the country, and his response was unequivocal.

“I view these people as terrorists, just like others,” Trump said. “When I looked at those showrooms burning, and those cars — not one or two, like seven, eight, ten — burning, exploding all over the place, these are terrorists.”

He drew a comparison that was certain to generate reaction: “You didn’t have that on January 6th, I can tell you. You didn’t have anything like that on January 6th, which is sort of amazing, because on January 6th the Democrats were talking. Nobody was killed other than a very beautiful young woman, Ashley — Ashley Babbitt. Nobody was killed.”

Trump then addressed the organized nature of the attacks: “And you look at what’s going on now with these terrorists. These are terrorists, and that’s an organized event. You know, take a look at their signs. They’re all made by the same sign company. A nice, expensive job.”

He extended culpability beyond the arsonists themselves: “Now, the people that finance it are, in my opinion, just as big a trouble as the people that are setting the match and setting the fires.”

The legal consequences, Trump said, would be severe: “From what they tell me, they could get 20 years in jail, and they’ll get it. I’ll tell you, there’s going to be no leniency, and there’ll be no pardons. I can tell you that right now.”

He confirmed the investigation: “It’s under very serious investigation by the FBI and by the Justice Department. These people are terrorists.”

The “terrorists” designation was legally and rhetorically significant. By categorizing the Tesla arsons as terrorism rather than vandalism or protest, Trump was signaling that the full weight of federal law enforcement would be brought to bear — and that the financial backers of the protests would be investigated alongside the perpetrators.

Deportation Authority: Flipping the Question

When a reporter asked whether Trump believed he had “the authority, the power to round up people, deport them, and then you’re under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them,” Trump executed one of his most effective rhetorical maneuvers — he redirected the question entirely.

“Well, that’s what the law says, and that’s what our country needs,” Trump began, “because we were, unfortunately — they allowed millions of people to come into our country, totally unvetted, totally unchecked.”

Then the flip: “So you’re going to ask me if we have the authority? Did Biden have the authority to do something that’s unthinkable — have open borders where millions of people poured into our country, totally unvetted and totally unchecked?”

The rhetorical judo was effective because it exposed an asymmetry in scrutiny. Reporters were demanding that Trump justify his legal authority to enforce immigration law — the most basic function of a sovereign government. But those same reporters had spent four years watching Biden effectively suspend enforcement of immigration law without demanding comparable justification.

The Autopen Connection

Trump wove the autopen controversy into the deportation discussion.

“The person that operated the autopen — I think we ought to find out who that was, because I guess that was the real president,” Trump said.

The quip connected two of the administration’s running themes: the question of who was actually governing during the Biden administration, and the question of whether Biden’s official acts carried the authority of genuine presidential authorization. If Biden had not personally made the decision to open the border — if someone else was operating the autopen and making policy in his name — then the policies themselves were doubly illegitimate: bad in substance and unauthorized in origin.

Key Takeaways

• Trump offered to personally pay the two stranded astronauts who received only $5/day per diem ($1,430 for 286 extra days): “If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket.”
• He thanked Elon Musk for the SpaceX rescue, noting the astronauts’ bodies deteriorate after 9-10 months and asking “if we don’t have Elon, who else is going to get them?”
• Trump called Tesla dealership arsonists “terrorists” facing 20 years in prison: “There’s going to be no leniency and no pardons.” He said the attacks were organized: “Their signs are all made by the same sign company.”
• On deportation authority, he flipped the question: “Did Biden have the authority to allow millions of people to come into our country, totally unvetted?”
• He called for identifying “the person that operated the autopen” because “I guess that was the real president.”