Elon Musk has all but declared his undying love for former President Donald Trumpact as a spokesperson for presidential candidate on social media and is even said to have spent a lot of money on his campaign. Despite this, Trump still doesn’t really like Elon Musk. In fact, he kind of hates him and thinks he’s weird. Ouch.
Musk quickly endorsed Trump Later an attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania in July, and since then he has raised millions of dollars for his campaign through America PAC, according to Rolling StoneIn the past two weeks alone, the company has spent $16 million on campaign outreach—a big boost for a candidate with a truly weak base.
This is a little more from Rolling Stone about how Musk and Trump’s relationship is full of awkwardness and mutual understanding that both need each other (because fewer and fewer people are solving their problems):
According to a person close to the two-time convicted felon, Trump “thinks he’s weird. Sorry to use a word that Democrats use these days,” the source said, speaking with the former president about Musk in July. Another source, who has been in the room multiple times over the years when Trump has spoken privately about Musk, told Rolling Stone that Trump has sometimes, most recently in the past few months, called Musk “boring,” annoying, and prone to mood swings.
That may sound rich, coming from Donald J. Trump, who is said to be all three to an unpleasant degree. But it underscores Trump’s own ability to recognize the inherent quirks or unpopular traits of some of his most prominent political supporters. Trump has long understood, for example, in a way that many conservative leaders do not, that it is imperative for the GOP’s electoral success that Republicans talk incessantly about their plans on abortion, because most Americans find their views repugnant.
Trump and Musk have publicly clashed in the past, with Trump unprovokedly insulting Musk, in part because Musk said it was time to ditch Trump in 2022 and endorse Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary.
“When Elon Musk comes to the White House asking me for help with all his subsidized projects,” Trump wrote in 2022, “whether it’s electric cars that don’t last long enough, driverless cars that crash, or spaceships that don’t go anywhere, without those subsidies he would be worth nothing, and tells me he’s a big Trump fan and a Republican, I can say, ‘get down on your knees and beg,’ and he will.”
I’ll be very honest with you – I think about that Trump tweet almost every day of my life. But let’s not forget that around the time of that meeting, Trump also called Musk a “talking artist”. Broken watch and all that.
In all fairness, sources say UNIVERSITY that Trump has said some nice things privately about musk. But Trump’s true (and more crude) feelings still surface. Trump recently described Musk as “a very different kind of person,” which was clearly not meant as a compliment.
Asked about Trump’s recent harsh words toward Musk, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Rolling Stone that the former president and Musk “agree on the big issues facing our country, and Kamala Harris must be stopped before she completely destroys America,” adding: “That’s why so many people from across the political spectrum have united behind President Trump to Make America Great Again.”
This is clearly a transaction. Trump and his campaign are in dire need of money and support.t. Musk brings both of those things to the table amid the massive fortune he has amassed and his rabid fan base.
Of course, this isn’t a one-way street. Musk would benefit more from a second Trump presidency than Harris, because Rolling Stone explain:
Trump’s victory could be a big financial win for Musk. Harris has proposed a wealth tax on households worth more than $100 million, as well as raising the corporate tax rate, which Trump cut as president. Musk, who is reportedly worth $247 billion, posted on X that Harris’ economic agenda “results in long bread lines and ugly shoes.”
Meanwhile, Trump is convincing wealthy donors that they need to fund him so he can protect their tax cuts and cut corporate taxes further.
It will be interesting to see where this relationship goes after November. I expect things to get weirder before then, but once the election is over and the results are known, it’s unlikely that Trump will see any real need for a CEO.
