No evidence Trump compared Musk to ‘Isaac Neutron’ instead of Isaac Newton

In mid-March 2025, a rumor spread that U.S. President Donald Trump compared Tesla CEO Elon Musk to “a modern-day Isaac Neutron.” Social media posts shared audio that implied Trump mispronounced the name of renowned 17th-century English physicist Isaac Newton.

Users on TikTok spread the rumor, reposting a clip that in says: “It’s fantastic, fantastic. He was a smart guy. You know Tesla. First the lightbulb and now this. Seems like a modern-day Isaac Neutron.” One user captioned their video: “We’re being pranked right? RIGHT? The US has become the laughing stock of the entire world” (archived, archived, archived, archived, archived).

Elsewhere, users on X, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram (archived, archived, archived, archived) shared the audio, while outlets including the English-language Indian news aggregator Times Now and the English-language Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune (archived, archived) reported that Trump made the alleged comment during a showcase of Tesla cars on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025. Snopes readers also wrote in to ask us whether the audio was legitimate. 

There is no evidence Trump made the remark. Footage from the Tesla showcase does not capture him making the alleged comment. No reliable news outlets have reported Trump said it and Times Now said it could not verify the audio’s authenticity. Instead, it appears the audio originated on TikTok and is likely the product of artificial intelligence. Therefore, we have rated this claim as fake.

At the time of writing, almost 1,000 TikTok videos used one sound to either lip-synch or react to the alleged remark. The user behind the sound, @whmole, has since deleted (archived) their account and the original video. 

However, an X user reposted (archived) the original TikTok video, which is watermarked with @whmole’s handle. The X post shows that the original video claimed it was “leaked Trump audio” from March 11, 2025 — the same day as the Tesla showcase at the White House — without providing any proof.

A YouTube channel associated with Fox News, LiveNow from Fox, posted footage from the Tesla showcase event at the White House. The footage captures the entire period Trump and Musk appeared in front of reporters and does not record the president making the comment. This footage does have one overlap in it when the audio appears to repeat itself — this is likely a disruption in the live feed rather than a jump cut suggesting a segment has been removed.

A Google News search for the terms “Trump Tesla Isaac Neutron” showed no results from reputable news outlets. If Trump had said the quote, it would have been reported by established newspapers, news websites or networks.

Instead, the AI-detector tool Hiya suggests the @whmole TikTok sound was likely created using AI. Hiya rated the audio as having a 9 in 100 chance of being authentic and said what seemed to be Trump’s voice was likely a deepfake.

(Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector)

While @whmole deleted their account, searching TikTok with their username still provided results for old videos that other users stitched or duetted (archived, archived). These examples show the account had a history of posting supposed “leaked Trump audio,” with one suggesting Trump wanted to “get rid of Washington, D.C.” and another claiming he said “St. Donald’s Day” would be better than St. Patrick’s Day.

Snopes has also reported that the @whmole TikTok account posted a fake clip of Trump saying daylight saving time should be scrapped because people “die faster” when the clocks move forward.