Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, seen with former President Donald Trump at the 2020 SpaceX Falcon 9 launch site / Yonhap News
Former President Donald Trump, a strong candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, reportedly met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, stirring speculation about securing “ammunition” for his election campaign.
The New York Times (NYT) quoted an anonymous source on the 5th (local time), revealing that former President Trump met Musk in Palm Beach, Florida, on the 3rd.
Some wealthy donors who have backed the Republican Party’s elections are said to have attended this meeting.
With the November US presidential election shaping up to clash between current President Joe Biden and former President Trump, the Trump camp has sought “big financial support” to supply election funds.
The NYT reported, “Former President Trump praised Musk during the meeting with collaborators and expressed his desire to meet with him one-on-one soon.”
Forbes, a US business magazine, predicted that if Musk, whose net worth is estimated at $200 billion, supports Trump on a large scale, he could almost single-handedly eliminate the financial advantage held by the Biden camp.
According to Forbes, Musk slipped to second place last month after giving the world’s richest person title to Bernard Arnault, chairman of the French luxury group LVMH.
Trump recently faced a legal setback. He lost a civil trial for fraud allegations in New York Manhattan District Court, resulting in a hefty penalty of at least $450 million amidst various other civil and criminal litigations. As a result, a significant amount of election donations is being spent on legal expenses.
There has been no response from either former President Trump or Musk’s camp regarding inquiries on this matter.
While it remains uncertain whether Musk will donate political funds to former President Trump, Musk’s acquaintances have said that he believes President Biden should lose his re-election bid in this election.
Musk had criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017 and had rough social media exchanges with the former president ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
However, on the other hand, he publicly urged his more than 170 million social media followers to vote for Republican candidates in the midterm elections; immediately after acquiring X (formerly Twitter) in October of the same year, he restored former President Trump’s blocked account.
At that time, former President Trump’s access was blocked for inciting his supporters by making claims of election fraud in the 2020 US presidential election, which led to the Capitol building intrusion on January 6, 2021.
Musk has been at odds with the Biden administration and the progressive camp in the United States, expressing strong antipathy towards the “Woke” culture, which refers to sensitivity to issues of political correctness.
He has claimed that President Biden and the Democrats are trying to rig elections by bringing in “a large number of illegal immigrants,” and he has also mentioned the age issue, which is considered a weakness of President Biden.
Musk’s frustration with the Biden administration, which has been pressuring Tesla, which operates without a union, could influence this stance.
In August 2021, President Biden, announcing his vision for eco-friendly cars at the White House, invited only “Big 3” automakers with unions, excluding Tesla from the invitation list.
Even after SpaceX’s successful first space tourism in September of the same year, when President Biden refrained from expressing a stance, Musk responded sarcastically to a user asking for a reason, saying, “He is still sleeping,” and has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the White House.
Unlike other American billionaires, Musk has never donated large amounts of money in presidential elections and only has donated similar amounts to both the Democratic and Republican parties in other elections.
It seems that the fact that the main businesses led by Musk, such as Tesla and SpaceX, are tied to the US federal government through various contracts and subsidy benefits has influenced this.
One person close to Musk said that, due to his interests in the US government, Musk has avoided being seen as too close to a certain political party.
In fact, in May 2023, he showed a close relationship by live-streaming the presidential candidacy announcement of Ron DeSantis, the Governor of Florida, who was early recognized as a potential Republican presidential candidate known as “Little Trump.” Still, he did not donate political funds through a super PAC (Political Action Committee).
However, the NYT observed, “Even if Musk decides not to donate to the pro-Trump super PAC or spend money in other ways to help Trump, his influence alone carries significant weight.”
This media evaluation stated, “Musk has 175 million followers on X and has the ability to shape news coverage, which few in the United States have.”
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