It wasn’t love at first sight. Not long ago, they didn’t like each other.
“I don’t hate the man,” Musk tweeted in July 2022, “but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”
A harsh slur by Trump calling him a liar sparked Mr. Musk’s remark. Trump accused Musk of lying about his presidential vote.
“Elon is not going to buy Twitter,” Trump claimed during an Alaska rally.
Musk bought Twitter months later and endorsed Trump’s Republican candidate, Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor launched his presidential campaign with a glitchy Twitter Spaces discussion.
The friendship between Musk and Trump has warmed and simmered in recent months.
Trump returned to Twitter/X on Monday, hours before he and Musk were scheduled to have a convivial discussion on the site.
Both men will hope the topic reaches more than the hyperactive paid-for users who dominate X chatter and is free of the technical issues that plagued Mr. DeSantis’s failed campaign.
The tech tycoon and Republican nominee have a long history.
Blue to red
Musk, who became a US citizen in 2002, claimed he voted virtually exclusively for Democrats for decades.
However, Musk soured on President Biden over unions and a snub. Despite Tesla’s dominance in EVs, he was not invited to the 2021 White House electric vehicle conference.
The Biden administration also looked into Mr. Musk’s businesses for violations of employment laws, Twitter takeovers, and Tesla’s autopilot.
In November 2023, he told the New York Times that he would not vote for Biden again but declined to back Trump, stating, “This is definitely a difficult choice here.”
Mr. Musk revoked the former president’s Twitter ban after buying the firm.
Perhaps more importantly, his tenure has seen him delve deeper into Trump’s campaign issues: government suppression and persecution, media complaints, immigration opposition, and outrage at “woke” notions.
“He craves attention and is a political chameleon,” claimed Garbage Day writer Ryan Broderick.
Broderick claimed Musk’s internet posts changed substantially a few years ago.
“He was tweeting neoliberal, happy-go-lucky things, pride flags, and so on, until around 2018, and the change happened pretty drastically after that,” he stated.
Since taking over Twitter, Mr. Musk has become more involved in political debates and promoted controversial and other news.
Trump’s Tech Fans
Meanwhile, his Silicon Valley connections connect him to Trump’s inner circle. The PayPal fellas, including Mr. Musk, gained fortunes when the payment processor was bought for $1.5 billion and went on to become successful investors and firm founders.
Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican, employed JD Vance at Mithril Capital Management and donated $10 million to his Ohio Senate campaign.
Musk met Trump at his Florida estate in March. A few months later, Mr. Musk threw a dinner party with Mr. Thiel and Rupert Murdoch, US press reported.
Musk has donated to Democrats and Republicans. Although he denies funding to any presidential campaign, he co-founded America PAC, a pro-Trump political action committee.
Political action committees can spend a lot of money on candidates and issues, but Mr. Musk denies allegations that he will contribute $45 million a month.
Nevertheless, his support for Trump was fully ensured just minutes after last month’s assassination attempt on the former president, when he tweeted: “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”
Trump seems to have mended fences with Mr Musk. At a news conference on Thursday, he said: “I respect Elon a lot. He respects me.”
Elon is more than almost anybody I know… he loves this country, he loves the concept of this country, but like me, he says this country is in big trouble, it’s in tremendous danger,” Trump said.
Musk is a hero to a group of young, primarily male supporters who may agree with Trump.
The Trump campaign looks to be targeting that demographic.
The former president recently interviewed podcaster Adin Ross, who was frequently banned from Twitch for breaking its conduct regulations.
“Donald Trump is scrambling because he’s looking for a way to invigorate his campaign,” he said. “He’s a showman, and he understands that Elon Musk has similar instincts.”
But he doubted they would get along in person.
“I assume they will talk at and around each other, and it will probably not make much sense,” he remarked. “And maybe somebody will say something crazy.”
Donald Trump would name Elon Musk to a cabinet role and says he may end EV tax credits
“I certainly would, if he would do it,” Trump said on naming Musk to a cabinet or advisory role.
After ending electric vehicle tax rebates, US presidential candidate Donald Trump said he “certainly would” appoint Tesla CEO Elon Musk to a cabinet or advisory role.
“Tax credits and tax incentives are not generally a very good thing,” Trump told Reuters after a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Monday.
When asked about naming Musk for a particular role in his administration, Trump said, “He’s a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would. He’s a brilliant guy.”
Musk praised Trump in July and suggested donating $45 million (€41 million) a month to a political entity backing the former president. Musk refuted the report.
Musk did not explicitly say he would join a cabinet or advisory role but posted on his social media platform X on Tuesday, “I am willing to serve,” with an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated image of him standing on a podium reading “Department of Energy Efficiency” with the American flag behind him.
Trump also said on Monday: “I’m a big fan of electric cars, but I’m a fan of gasoline-propelled cars, as well as hybrids and whatever else happens to come along.”
EV buyers can now take advantage of a $7,500 (€6,800) tax credit thanks to US Treasury Department rules.
President Trump wanted to remove the EV tax credit in 2019, but Joe Biden expanded it in 2022.
Trump told Reuters he was “not making any final decisions on” the EV tax credit but that “you can’t mandate that you can only buy an electric car.”
