Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with former President Donald Trump on Sunday in Palm Seaside, Florida, together with unnamed rich Republican donors, the New York Times reported, citing three folks briefed on the assembly.
Trump is courting donors as he gears up for a common election marketing campaign in opposition to President Joe Biden. It isn’t but clear whether or not Musk will financially again or endorse Trump and his 2024 marketing campaign.
Musk and a consultant for Trump’s marketing campaign did not instantly reply to requests for remark.
Personal jets belonging to Trump and Musk had been noticed touchdown inside lower than an hour of each other at a Palm Seaside airport on March 2. The jets’ whereabouts had been first reported on-line by the service generally known as “Elon Jet,” which makes use of publicly out there information to trace greater than 125 jets belonging to politicians, celebrities and executives.
In September 2023, Musk visited the White House to debate synthetic intelligence know-how, however he did not meet with Biden at the moment.
Musk, who owns X and runs protection contractor SpaceX along with Tesla, did not endorse Trump in his 2016 or 2020 campaigns.
The 2 have had their share of clashes.
In June 2017, Musk deserted advisory councils of then-President Trump, citing his withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris local weather accords.
In 2022, Trump known as Musk a “bull—- artist,” claiming that the Tesla CEO stated he voted for Trump in non-public conversations between them. Musk publicly denied that declare and stated the primary time he voted for a Republican was Mayra Flores in a particular election in Texas that yr.
Musk has publicly voiced criticisms of Trump and Biden.
“I do not hate the person, nevertheless it’s time for Trump to hold up his hat & sail into the sundown,” Musk wrote in a tweet in July 2022. “Dems also needs to name off the assault — do not make it in order that Trump’s solely method to survive is to regain the Presidency.”
Trump stated in a publish on Fact Social at the moment that Musk got here to the White Home for assist “on all of his many sponsored tasks, whether or not it is electrical vehicles that do not drive lengthy sufficient, driverless vehicles that crash, or rocketships to nowhere.”
Since Musk acquired Twitter and rebranded it as X, he is turn into extra vocal about his political ideology. He is additionally made extra appearances alongside right-wing political leaders all over the world.
In Might 2022, Musk accused the Biden administration of doing “every little thing it may well to sideline” and ignore Tesla, regardless of its dominance within the electrical automobile trade.
In November 2022, after Musk purchased Twitter with the help of funding from Saudi Arabia, President Biden was requested whether or not Musk was a possible menace to nationwide safety. Biden stated his “cooperation and/or technical relationships with different nations is worthy of being checked out.”
Final yr, Musk stated he was “leaning” toward voting for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. However DeSantis suspended his marketing campaign in January, endorsing Trump simply earlier than the New Hampshire major.
On the DealBook Summit in November, Musk stated, “I might not vote for Biden.”
“I am not saying I might vote for Trump,” he stated. He additionally characterised Nikki Haley, who’s operating in opposition to Trump within the Republican major, as a “pro-censorship” candidate.
On Tuesday, Musk posted on X to bash the Biden administration’s dealing with of immigration within the U.S. He concurrently voiced assist for Republican candidates together with Marty O’Donnell, a composer of music for well-liked video video games, who’s operating as a Republican for Congress in Nevada, and for Jeremy Sylestine, a district legal professional candidate in Austin, Texas.
