Elon Musk and Donald Trump's complex relationship: From initial criticism to unlikely political alliance and recent falling out. Explore their fluctuating friendship, including Musk's significant financial contributions to pro-Trump super PACs and their public disagreements
Elon Musk and Donald Trump: From Rivals to Political Allies. The unlikely alliance between the world's richest man and the twice-elected president saw Musk become a major Trump supporter, even calling himself "first buddy" after Trump's 2024 win and donating over $200 million to pro-Trump super PACs. Explore their evolving relationship, from initial disagreements to surprising political partnership
Early in Trump's second term, Elon Musk became a key advisor, effectively leading the White House's DOGE office—a controversial cost-cutting initiative that significantly impacted the federal government
Elon Musk's Shifting Alliance with Donald Trump: From "First Buddy" to Business Focus. After significant political involvement and substantial donations to pro-Trump PACs, Musk distanced himself from the former president in May, prioritizing his business ventures and reducing political spending
Elon Musk and Donald Trump's tumultuous relationship exploded in early June amid a public disagreement over the "Big, Beautiful Bill." This article details the breakdown of their once-strong political alliance, tracing their journey from initial opposition to a surprising partnership and subsequent rift. Explore the key events leading to this dramatic turning point between the two billionaires
From 2016 to 2024: Tracing Elon Musk and Donald Trump's Complex Relationship. Explore the surprising evolution of their alliance, from initial criticism to staunch political support and eventual public rift, including Musk's significant financial contributions to pro-Trump PACs and his role in the White House. Uncover the key moments that shaped this rollercoaster partnership between two powerful figures
Before the 2016 election, Elon Musk publicly voiced his disapproval of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy on CNBC, stating Trump lacked the character to represent the United States effectively and favoring Hillary Clinton's economic and environmental policies
Elon Musk's 2016 Pre-Election Criticism of Donald Trump: Before the 2016 election, Elon Musk voiced concerns about Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, stating that Trump lacked the character to represent the United States effectively. Musk also favored Hillary Clinton's economic and environmental policies. This early criticism contrasts sharply with their later, more complex relationship
Despite initially opposing Donald Trump's presidency and praising Hillary Clinton's economic and environmental policies as "the right ones," Elon Musk later became a significant political ally of Trump, even donating over $200 million to pro-Trump super PACs
Following Trump's 2016 presidential victory, Elon Musk joined two of the president's economic advisory councils, alongside other prominent CEOs such as Travis Kalanick of Uber. This appointment, though met with criticism, marked the beginning of a complex relationship between the two figures
Elon Musk faced backlash for advising President Trump, but justified his involvement by claiming he leveraged the opportunity to advocate for pro-environmental and pro-immigration policies
Elon Musk's 2017 resignation from Trump's presidential advisory councils followed President Trump's announcement on June 1st, withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change. This marked a turning point in their complex relationship
Elon Musk's surprising departure from the Paris Agreement: A tweet reveals the rift between the billionaire and the Trump administration, highlighting the impact on climate change policy and US global standing. Musk's statement – "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world" – underscores the growing tensions and shifting political alliances
Tesla's mission, spearheaded by Elon Musk, is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. This involves accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, solar power, and energy storage solutions to reduce reliance on fossil fuels
In a January 2020 CNBC interview, Trump lauded Musk's achievements and intellect, highlighting a period of apparent political alliance between the two high-profile figures
“You have to give him credit,” the former president said, referring to Tesla becoming more valuable than Ford and General Motors. “He’s also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And he’s doing good at rockets too, by the way.”
Trump went on to call Musk “one of our great geniuses” and likened him to Thomas Edison.
As the pandemic gripped the US in early 2020, Musk clashed with California public-health officials who forced Tesla to temporarily shut down its factory there. Trump voiced his support for Musk.
“California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW,” Trump tweeted in May 2020. “It can be done Fast & Safely!”
“Thank you!” Musk replied.
In May, Musk said he would unban Trump as Twitter’s new owner.
Musk called the ban a “morally bad decision” and “foolish to the extreme” in an interview with the Financial Times. Twitter kicked Trump off its platform following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
The Tesla billionaire has called himself a “free speech absolutist,” and one of his key goals for taking Twitter private was to loosen content moderation.
In July, Trump took aim at Musk, saying the businessman voted for him but later denied it.
“You know [Musk] said the other day ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican,'” Trump said during a Saturday rally in Anchorage, Alaska. “I said ‘I didn’t know that.’ He told me he voted for me. So he’s another bullshit artist.”
On Monday, Musk tweeted that Trump’s claim was “not true.”
Musk stopped short of attacking Trump personally, but said he shouldn’t run for president again.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset. Dems should also call off the attack – don’t make it so that Trump’s only way to survive is to regain the Presidency,” he tweeted.
He continued: “Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!? Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69.” Trump is 76 years old.
Trump then went on the offensive, posting a lengthy attack on Musk on Truth Social, the social media company he founded.
“When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it,” Trump said in a post that criticized two of Musk’s ventures, Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.
“Lmaooo,” Musk responded on Twitter.
Following Musk’s official buyout of Twitter on Thursday, Trump posted to Truth Social, cheering the deal.
“I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country,” he said. He added that he likes Truth Social better than other platforms, echoing comments from earlier this year in which he ruled out a return to Twitter.
On Monday, Musk joked about the potential of welcoming the former president back to his newly acquired platform.
“If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if Trump is coming back on this platform, Twitter would be minting money!,” the Tesla CEO tweeted.
Musk and other right-leaning voices in Silicon Valley initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis ended 2022 as Trump’s best-positioned primary challenger. In November 2022, as DeSantis was skyrocketing to acclaim, Musk said he would endorse him. In March 2023, after enduring Trump’s attacks for months, DeSantis prepared to make history by formally announcing his campaign in an interview on Twitter.
The initial few minutes were a glitchy disaster. Trump and his allies ruthlessly mocked DeSantis’ “Space” with Musk and venture capitalist David Sachs. DeSantis’ interview later proceeded, but his campaign was dogged for days with negative headlines.
Musk live-streamed a visit to the US-Mexico border on Twitter, which he had rebranded as “X.” Musk said that one of Trump’s signature policies was necessary during his visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, to get a first-person look at what local officials called a crisis at the border.
“We actually do need a wall and we need to require people to have some shred of evidence to claim asylum to enter, as everyone is doing that,” Musk wrote on X. “It’s a hack that you can literally Google to know exactly what to say! Will find out more when I visit Eagle Pass maybe as soon as tomorrow.”
Like Trump and others on the right, Musk had criticized the broader consensus in Washington for focusing too much on Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine in comparison to domestic issues like migration.
Trump tried to woo Musk during a meeting at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort. According to The New York Times, Trump met with Musk and a few other GOP megadonors when the former president’s campaign was particularly cash-strapped. After the Times published its report, Musk said he would not be “donating money to either candidate for US President.”
It wasn’t clear who Musk meant in terms of the second candidate. He had repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden, who looked poised to be headed toward a rematch with Trump.
Musk said he “fully endorsed” Trump after the former president was shot during a political rally ahead of the Republican National Convention. The billionaire’s endorsement marked a major turning point in his yearslong political evolution from an Obama voter. Days later, it would come to light that Musk pressed Trump to select Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.
Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick at the Republican National Convention.
The ticket, Musk wrote on X, “resounds with victory.”
It wasn’t just his public support that Musk was offering. In July, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk had pledged roughly $45 million to support a pro-Trump super PAC. Musk later said he would donate far less, but his rebranding into a loyal member of the MAGA right was complete.
Trump, who ended the Republican National Convention primed for victory, stumbled after Biden abruptly dropped out of the 2024 race. The former president and his allies have struggled to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee.
Amid Harris’ early media blitz, Trump joined Musk on a two-hour livestream on X that garnered an audience of over 1 million listeners. The conversation covered topics ranging from a retelling of Trump’s assassination attempt to illegal immigration to Musk’s potential role with a government efficiency commission.
In August, Trump began floating the idea that he “certainly would” consider adding Musk to his Cabinet or an advisory role. The Tesla CEO responded by tweeting an AI-generated photo of himself on a podium emblazoned with the acronym “D.O.G.E”—Department of Government Efficiency.
“I am willing to serve,” he wrote above the image.
In September, Trump softened the suggestion of Musk joining his Cabinet due to his time constraints with running his various business ventures, the Washington Post reported. However, he also said that Musk could “consult with the country” and help give “some very good ideas.”
Musk then replied to a tweet about the Washington Post article, expressing his enthusiasm.
“I can’t wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go,” he wrote.
He later said on X that he “looked forward to serving” the country and would be willing to do with without any pay, title, or recognition.
Musk joined Trump onstage during the former president’s rally, hosted on October 5 in the same location where Trump survived an assassination attempt in July. Musk sported an all-black “Make America Great Again” cap and briefly addressed the crowd, saying that voter turnout for Trump this year was essential or “this will be the last election.”
“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution,” Musk said. “He must win to preserve democracy in America.”
The next day, Musk’s America PAC announced that it would offer $47 to each person who refers registered voters residing in swing states to sign a petition “in support for the First and Second Amendments.”
By October, the PAC had reportedly already spent over $80 million on the election, with over $8.2 million spread across 18 competitive House races for the GOP.
The Tesla CEO later told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he might face “vengeance” if Trump loses the election.
Musk was by Trump’s side on election night at Mar-a-Lago, helping celebrate his victory.
Nearly a week after his 2024 presidential election win, Trump announced that Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were chosen to lead a newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE, as Musk likes to call it, in reference to the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin).
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pay the way for my Administration to dismantle the Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump said in a statement.
It’s unclear whether the department will formally exist within the government, though Trump said the office would “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government” and work directly with the White House and Office of Management & Budget.
Musk responded in a post on X that the Department of Government Efficiency will be post all their actions online “for maximum transparency.”
“Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!” Musk wrote. “We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.”
Outside of administrative duties, Musk has also attended “almost every meeting and many meals that Mr. Trump has had,” the New York Times reported, acting as a partial advisor and confidant. The Tesla CEO also reportedly joined Trump’s calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while both men were at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club, where Musk seems to have settled in.
“Elon won’t go home,” Trump told NBC News jokingly. “I can’t get rid of him.”
The two’s close relationship has extended to a more personal friendship. Musk was seen attending Trump’s Thanksgiving dinner and on the golf course with Trump and his grandchildren, where Kai Trump said he achieved “uncle status.”
While Musk and Trump are both big personalities, the President-elect made it clear that he’ll be the one running the country. President-elect Donald Trump dismissed the notion that he “ceded the presidency” to Musk and said that even if the billionaire wanted to be president, he couldn’t because he was born in South Africa.
“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said at Turning Point USA’s annual “AmericaFest” in December. “And I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country.”
Trump’s comments came after Musk flexed his influence to help shut down a bipartisan emergency spending bill earlier that month. Some Republicans questioned why Trump hadn’t been more active in derailing the bill, and Democrats baited the President-elect on social media with posts about Musk “calling the shots” and taking on the role of a “shadow president.
Prior to Trump addressing the subject, Trump’s team also looked to shut down the idea that Musk is leading the Republican Party.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, told BI. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
Trump was sworn into office on January 20. Several tech leaders were in attendance, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Google’s Sundar Pichai. The “first buddy” was also front and center for Trump’s inauguration.
Musk took the stage to celebrate at an inauguration event at the Capital One Arena, where he sparked accusations over a gesture he made that some said resembled a Nazi salute. Musk denied the allegations.
“Hopefully, people realize I’m not a Nazi. Just to be clear, I’m not a Nazi,” he said during an interview with Joe Rogan.
Though Musk has been the face of the DOGE effort, White House court filings said he has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.”
In the filing, Musk is described as a senior advisor to Trump with “no greater authority than other senior White House advisors.” Officials have also called him a “special government employee.”
Trump told reporters they can call Musk “whatever you want.”
“Elon is to me a patriot,” Trump said in February. “You could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant, you could call him whatever you want.”
Later that month, a White House official told BI that Amy Gleason, who previously worked for US Digital Service, is the acting DOGE administrator.
Despite court filings and White House officials stating otherwise, Trump told Congress that Musk is the leader of the DOGE office.
“I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you’ve heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight,” Trump said during his speech on March 4.
Those questioning the constitutionality of DOGE were quick to respond by letting a federal judge know about their claims that Musk is in charge.
Meanwhile, calls for a Tesla boycott are growing as Musk becomes more involved in Trump’s presidency. Protests, boycotts, and vandalism at Tesla dealerships across the US have spread since the beginning of 2025.
Trump stepped in to defend Musk’s electric car company on Tuesday, with Teslas on the South Lawn of the White House. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that he’d purchase a car to show support amid the public outcry.
“The Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” the president wrote.
Three months into DOGE’s mission to reshape the federal workforce, Musk announced that he would be stepping back from the effort. He broke the news during an underwhelming Tesla earnings call, where earnings per share were down 71% year over year.
“Starting next month, I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla,” Musk said during the call. He added that “the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency” had been completed.
At the time, Musk said he would keep spending one or two days each week on governmental duties, so long as Trump wanted him to do so.
By May, Musk started to step back from his political activity overall. During an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, he said he thinks he’s “done enough” in terms of political contributions.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” he said, adding that he didn’t “currently see a reason” to pour money into politics. Previously, Musk had said his super PAC would contribute to 2026 midterm efforts.
A few days later, Musk told a reporter that he “probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,” and that he’d “reduced that significantly in recent weeks.”
Musk took a decidedly more critical tone when it came to the overall Republican agenda. He said in an interview with CBS in late May that he wasn’t pleased with Trump and House Republicans’ “big beautiful” spending bill.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said.
And then, on May 28, Musk cut ties with DOGE and the Trump administration. The White House confirmed that it had started Musk’s off-boarding process.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Under federal law, special government employees can’t serve for more than 130 days a year. Musk left the administration 128 days after the inauguration.
Days after stepping away from his job in the White House, Musk delivered his harshest criticism yet of the GOP spending bill.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on X on June 3. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Some congressional Republicans, including Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee, posted that they agreed with Musk. Meanwhile, Trump has consistently defended the bill on Truth Social, including just hours before Musk’s critical post on X.
In an interview with CBS News that aired June 1, Musk said, “I’m a little stuck in a bind where I’m like, well, I don’t want to speak up against the administration, but I also don’t want to take responsibility for everything the administration’s doing.”
On June 5, Musk doubled down on his criticisms.
He dug up a tweet from 2013 in which Trump said, “I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!” Musk quote-tweeted it with the message, “Wise words,” taking a dig at Trump’s very different stance on the debt ceiling today.
The same day, Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, said, “Elon and I had a great relationship,” but he wasn’t sure if it would continue.
The president said Musk was criticizing his bill because of the phase-out of the electric vehicle tax credit, which would likely have repercussions for Musk’s Tesla.
Musk shot back within minutes on X, saying that while he thought the EV phase-out was unfair, what he really took issue with was the “MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”
Trump also said Musk was airing his grievances because he “missed” being in the White House.
“I’ll be honest, I think he misses the place. I think he got out there and all of a sudden, he wasn’t in this beautiful Oval Office,” Trump said.
The president escalated the attacks when he threatened to terminate the federal contracts that Musk’s companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, rely on.
Musk, meanwhile, continued to respond on X, writing, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”
“Such ingratitude,” he added.
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