From critic to staunch ally: How Musk’s relationship with Trump has evolved

Elon Musk and Donald Trump have shifted from critics to unlikely allies over the span of one election cycle.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss was one of the biggest donors to Republican Party causes over this election campaign, and joined the former president’s watch party at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on Tuesday evening.

But the pair have not always enjoyed such a cordial relationship.

Mr Musk, who became a US citizen in 2002, described himself as a “moderate Democrat” until recently but became a vocal critic of the party during the Biden administration.

In 2022, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive said they had become “the party of division & hate” and confirmed he would shift to voting Republican.

But he remained critical of Mr Trump, tweeting in July 2022: “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”

He followed this up by saying there would be “too much drama” if Mr Trump tried to run for the White House again, adding: “Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!?”

The former president accused Mr Musk of lying to him about who he had voted for in the previous presidential election – a claim the tech entrepreneur denied.

And although Mr Musk told a New York Times interviewer in 2023 that he would not vote for Mr Biden, he stopped short of endorsing Mr Trump, saying: “This is definitely a difficult choice here.”

Mr Musk lifted the ban on the former president’s Twitter account after successfully buying the company in 2022 and changing its name to X.

He later formally endorsed Mr Trump two days after his assassination attempt in July 2024.

He went on to undertake much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Mr Trump through his political organisation, America PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money.

Mr Musk’s father Errol Musk said this shift in opinion came as a result of his son seeing “common sense”.

He told TalkTV’s US Election 2024 programme: “I’ve been telling him for many years that he should support Donald Trump. He didn’t listen to me in the beginning.

“He was quite upset about the idea in the beginning – more than upset. He was very anti-Trump a few years ago and he’s changed now.

“He in fact is doing what I would be doing if I was his age. I would be doing what he’s doing.

“Common sense (changed his mind). He saw what was happening and he didn’t realise it before that you can’t put government in the hands of people who have no knowledge of business and no knowledge of running anything simply because they were elected by a so-called democratic majority of similar people.

“No, you need proper people who know what they’re doing.

“You’ve got to have people like Trump with a business mind. Running a country is a business. It’s nothing else.

“It’s simply a gigantic business operation and you’ve got to have people like that running the country. Not people who haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.”

Mr Trump previously said he would create a government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal government, an idea suggested by Mr Musk – who would lead it.

When asked whether he could see his son working in government, Mr Musk said: “I do actually. I think Trump has actually said so.

“The problem is Elon’s time is very, very limited. But I imagine he would find time …

“I certainly see Elon very much involved with Trump in getting the United States back to the country that it was and away from the insanity that has been ruling it in recent times.”