Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with former President Donald Trump on Sunday in Palm Seashore, 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 normal 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.
Non-public jets belonging to Trump and Musk had been noticed touchdown inside lower than an hour of each other at a Palm Seashore 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 accessible knowledge to trace greater than 125 jets belonging to politicians, celebrities and executives.
In September 2023, Musk visited the White House to debate synthetic intelligence expertise, 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 referred to as Musk a “bull—- artist,” claiming that the Tesla CEO mentioned he voted for Trump in personal conversations between them. Musk publicly denied that declare and mentioned the primary time he voted for a Republican was Mayra Flores in a particular election in Texas that 12 months.
Musk has publicly voiced criticisms of Trump and Biden.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Musk wrote in a tweet in July 2022. “Dems should also call off the attack — don’t make it so that Trump’s only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.”
Trump mentioned in a publish on Reality Social at the moment that Musk got here to the White Home for assist “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.”
Since Musk acquired Twitter and rebranded it as X, he is change into extra vocal about his political ideology. He is additionally made extra appearances alongside right-wing political leaders world wide.
In Could 2022, Musk accused the Biden administration of doing “everything it can to sideline” and ignore Tesla, regardless of its dominance within the electrical automobile business.
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 risk to nationwide safety. Biden mentioned his “cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.”
Final 12 months, Musk mentioned 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 main.
On the DealBook Summit in November, Musk mentioned, “I would not vote for Biden.”
“I’m not saying I’d vote for Trump,” he mentioned. He additionally characterised Nikki Haley, who’s operating in opposition to Trump within the Republican main, 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 in style 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.
