It always seemed like a relationship of convenience.
Despite the public declarations of a close friendship, public appearances in front of tens of thousands of people at campaign rallies, UFC events, and laudatory national interviews, Elon Musk and Donald Trump always seemed like an odd pairing.
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Musk served on three Trump advisory councils during his first term in office. However, after Trump announced that he was pulling America out of the Paris Climate Accords, Musk resigned in protest.
Despite his presence on numerous advisory panels, Musk had never met Trump in the Oval Office until one fateful day in early 2020, right before the onset of the Covid pandemic.
Trump had received notice that Musk was planning to build Tesla’s next gigafactory in Mexico instead of Texas, and he invited Musk to meet with him and his team to discuss his decision.
Musk reportedly called Trump “moron” behind his back during the meeting and insulted the decor of the White House. According to a second-hand telling in the Politico story, Musk compared it unfavorably to Chinese presidential palaces, saying, “I was just in China and man, their palaces just make the White House kind of look more like an outhouse.“
Trump was even less impressed.
As he was gearing up to run for president in 2022, Trump posted a picture of that very Oval Office meeting with an extremely disparaging caption, basically calling Musk someone who wouldn’t survive without government subsidies.
But now that their partnership has expired, Musk, who began burning the bridge, is trying to set things right.
Image source: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Elon Musk extends olive branch to President Donald Trump
Even after Musk began attacking the “big, beautiful bill,” the White House’s main legislative agenda, and Donald Trump personally, Trump’s response was uncharacteristically muted.
The White House comms team has gone full scorched earth in the past for much less than associating the president with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, like Musk did.
Instead, Trump has been surprisingly mature about the whole situation, writing on X, “We had a great relationship and I wish him well — very well, actually.”
Musk responded to Trump’s comments with a heart emoji.
Early Wednesday morning, he used his words to apologize officially.
“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,” wrote Musk on X.
“They went too far,” Musk added candidly.
As of Wednesday morning, the tweet had 36 million views, but it was unclear whether Trump had seen it.
The president hasn’t been known for being very forgiving of people who turn on him in the past, but Musk is a special case.
He reportedly spent between $250 million and $300 million of his own money to get Trump elected. Last week, when he was still angry with Trump, Musk let everyone know he was pulling the strings.
Trump spent the weekend telling every reporter who would listen about Musk’s drug use, even reportedly saying that Musk is a “big-time drug addict.”
While Musk may have returned to his senses, this isn’t the first time his impulsiveness has landed him in trouble.
Musk’s mouth comes back to haunt him once again
Donald Trump isn’t the first person Musk has associated with pedophilia as an insult.
Vernon Unsworth, a veteran cave explorer, offered to help rescue 12 boys trapped in a Thai cave in June 2018. He ended up recruiting the expert cave divers who eventually rescued the boys.
Musk also tried to help with the rescue, sending a team of Tesla engineers and a small submarine to the location; however, the vessel was never used.
This infuriated Musk, who got into a tweet battle with Unsworth that ended with Musk calling him a “pedo guy” in a since-deleted tweet.
Unsworth sued Musk for $190 million, arguing that the tweet damaged his reputation, but Musk argued in court that the insult “pedo guy” was common in his native South Africa.
The jury dismissed the claim after less than an hour of deliberation.
“This verdict sends a signal, and one signal only – that you can make any accusation you want to, as vile as it may be and as untrue as it may be, and somebody can get away with it,” Unsworth said at the time.
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