A New York Times story indicated that Elon Musk, a wealthy donor to Donald Trump, referred to the former President as a "stone-cold loser" in 2020 and expressed disapproval of his character.
According to an anonymous source close to Musk, as reported by the Times, the billionaire expressed to his colleagues in 2016 that Trump's triumph over Hillary Clinton in the election served as evidence that they existed within a simulated reality.
In 2020, Musk referred to Donald Trump as a "stone-cold loser" and expressed his belief that Trump's influence in politics was over during a private chat with another associate.
Musk subsequently endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential race and recently pledged a substantial payment to back Trump.
“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk wrote on Saturday following the failed assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania.
Since 2016, Trump and Musk have had a complex relationship, and it has been stated that the founder of Tesla and SpaceX harbors a strong aversion towards the former president.
After Trump's inauguration in 2016, Musk, who had previously expressed his belief that Trump was unsuitable for the position, was chosen to join the president's technology advisory group.
“When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help 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, without which subsidies he’d be worthless and tell me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it,” Trump attacked Musk in a post to Truth Social in 2022.
California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed Musk for his apparent hypocrisy when he recently donated to a pro-Trump Political Action Committee (PAC) after previously pledging not to contribute to either candidate.