From Allies to Adversaries: The Timeline of Trump and Elon Musk’s Relationship
There has been much talk about the rupture of one of the most surprising relationships between the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and US President Donald J. Trump.
This story’s beginning comes from a significant surprise – Elon Musk, who shared and endorsed mostly Democratic ideas, made a U-turn in his approach and decided to ride the Republican Horse during Trump’s presidential campaign.
From politics to taxes and power, discover how Elon Musk switched his stance, became Trump’s best friend, what led to yesterday’s surprising beef on X, and the effect it had on Tesla’s stock prices.
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Elon Musk has always been a progressive, starting to contribute to democratic campaigns in 2003 and donating to Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. In a 2014 interview, he named himself a “half-Republican, half-Democrat” and even said of Donald Trump in 2016 that “He doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.”
But realizing the amount of power and advantages that Elon Musk could gain if Donald Trump was elected, especially by endorsing who was the former President, Musk and his ever-growing thirst for more money and power switched sides.
The History of Elon Musk and Trump's relationship on Tesla's Stock Chart
Elon Musk wasn’t too political in his past, he affirmed in March 2024 through an X post that “I voted 100% Dem until a few years ago. Now, I think we need a red wave or America is toast.”
Except for providing non-vocal support to the Democratic party, Elon Musk did not take any particular side – “To be clear, I am not a conservative. […] Humanitarian issues are extremely important to me”
The South African native tends to tweet in a cryptic fashion, but he clearly mentioned to have voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 campaign.
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TSLA Weekly Chart, 2020 to June 5, 2025 – Source: TradingView
Suddenly, after a 2021 Electric Car summit held by the Biden Administration, where Tesla was not invited, the Tesla CEO’s stance changed. This was exacerbated by some family drama in 2022.
Later, in May 2024, Musk tweeted : “I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.”
Elon’s enrolment into Trump’s campaign really started as he announced after the US President got shot at a rally that he “fully support[s] President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery”.
He notably donated above $270M dollars to the Republican campaign that year.
A closer look to this year's action in the Trump-Musk relationship
After Trump got elected in November 2024, Musk is appointed to the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – a new department to modernize the government’s use of Information Technology-essentially slashing government spending without much consideration.
Everywhere we saw Donald Trump, Elon Musk was here. The US President praised the CEO on his election day with comments that “A star is born: Elon”.
On Trump’s second Inauguration Day, January 20th 2025, Elon notably spoke and made a very spiteful gesture – essentially showing signs of over-confidence that would lead to some distancing between the two.
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TSLA Daily Chart, June 6, 2025.
Through April and May 2025, Musk pledged to considerably reduce his influence in the DOGE and publicly criticized Trump’s Big Bill – which created a significant rupture.
The particularly strongly worded tweet from Elon on the 3rd of June stirred up a hornet’s nest – “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. “
Finally, yesterday June 5th, Elon tweeted about President Trump’s involvement in the Epstein Files, and these comments were quickly responded by the president.
See Elon Musk’s X posts here and Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts here.
TSLA’s stock gapped down yesterday after the news, gapped up today amid some risk-on flows after the beat on the Non-Farm Payroll report and stayed broadly unchanged since.
You can also take a look at this great timeline of Musk’s political views and quotes here.
And another timeline of the precise tweets that led to the end of the much-criticized bromance.
Safe Trades!
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