Washington: In the U.S. presidential elections, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk openly supported Donald Trump. Tesla’s CEO Musk was seen at rallies backing Trump, and in several places, people even started calling him Trump’s brother. Trump also respected Musk, calling him a once-in-a-lifetime entrepreneur. However, despite his strong support for Trump, Musk wasn’t always aligned with him. There are several reasons behind Musk’s shift to supporting Trump.
After escaping an attack during a rally in Pennsylvania, many people came to Trump’s support, including Musk, who began openly endorsing Trump. Prior to this, Musk had been seen as a supporter of the Democratic Party. In his earlier posts and interviews, he was seen supporting Democratic Party candidates.
Musk’s Shift from Democrat to Republican
In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Musk allegedly voted for Biden. In 2022, Musk publicly stated on Twitter about his past relationship with the Democratic Party, revealing that he had strongly supported Obama in the 2007 presidential election. He had also donated thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s campaigns.
However, after voting for Biden in 2020, things began to sour between Musk and the Biden administration. According to a report by Newsweek, this shift began after Musk took over Twitter, when he posted that, since the U.S. President was a Democrat, he was urging voters to support the Republican Party for Congress. While the reasons for Musk’s change of stance remain a topic of debate, this was the first time he openly supported the Republican Party.
Musk’s thoughts on Trump were not always so supportive. In a 2016 interview with CNBC, Musk openly questioned Trump’s character. But later, Musk set aside his past views and became a vocal supporter of Trump, even participating in rallies for him. Musk cited several reasons for his support, one of the key ones being that voting for Trump was like voting for Mars.
Biden Rejected Musk’s Proposal
Musk’s ideologies related to space and gender align more closely with Trump’s, which contributed to his eventual support for the Republican. Additionally, it seems that Biden indirectly ignored Musk, leading him to join Trump’s camp.
A notable example of this occurred in 2021, when Biden welcomed the CEOs of General Motors and Ford to a meeting but did not invite Tesla, the largest electric car producer. Musk later posted about it, saying it was strange that Tesla wasn’t invited.
During a subsequent briefing, when asked about Tesla’s absence, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “Well, we certainly welcome the efforts of automakers who recognize the potential of electric vehicles in the future and support efforts that help achieve the president’s goals, and Tesla is certainly one of those companies. I don’t expect this will be the last time we discuss clean cars and electric vehicles, and we expect to have many partners in that effort.”
Apart from this, there were several other disagreements between the Biden administration and Musk. When Musk acquired Twitter, he reinstated Trump’s account and refused to comply with the Biden administration’s request to ban Russian news agencies. Musk stated that he would only consider such a decision if a gun was held to his head, but otherwise, it would never happen.