NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former President Donald Trump delivers highly anticipated keynote address at biggest event Bitcoin The annual gathering late last month started more than an hour late.
As investors, enthusiasts and cryptocurrency curious people in Nashville grow increasingly restless, Elon Musk’s private jet is landing 200 miles away in Memphis, Tennessee.
That was July 27, just two weeks after Trump suffered an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. A few hours later, he was already Public recognition Depend on Tesla Re-elected as CEO.
At Nashville’s Music City Center, rumors have swirled all week that Musk would make a surprise appearance at the conference and possibly even host a fireside chat with Trump
Musk didn’t show up, but he was very present.
“I love Elon. He’s great,” Trump told the crowd. “He gave me a lot of support and everything, but not everyone has to have an electric car.”
However, Trump’s remarks in Nashville were markedly toned down from his remarks to Musk at a rally in Michigan a week ago.
“I love Elon Musk… We have to let our smart people live good lives. He’s just as smart as you,” Trump said at the time. “He gives me $45 million a month! Come on. Not $45 million. He gives me $45 million One month.
He continued, “I mean other people, they give you $2, you have to take them to lunch, you have to give them wine and food.”
So what happened between Michigan on July 20 and Nashville on July 27 to dampen Trump’s outpouring of praise? The answer seems simple: On July 22, Musk denied the scope of the promise.
“What’s being reported in the media is simply not true,” Musk told podcaster Jordan Peterson. “I will not donate $45 million a month to Trump.” On July 25, Musk posted on X that he was donating to a political action committee that supports Trump, “but the amount is much lower.”
The relationship between Musk, the world’s richest man, and Republican presidential candidate Trump is as rocky as the characters themselves. For years they made fun of each other, put each other down and took opposing stances on key issues. But more recently, they have emerged as parallel heroes for the far-right, a group that includes a large number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts and is united in pursuit of one goal: defeating the Democrats in 2024.
The extent to which Musk is willing to financially support Trump’s campaign, now running against Vice President Kamala Harris, is another matter. Musk formed a super PAC called USA PAC days after endorsing Trump, but it’s unclear how much he donated, the North Carolina attorney general’s office said Monday after receiving reports that The organization is being watched after complaints about how it collected personal data without fulfilling its duties.
The Federal Election Commission website shows that American PACs have limited financial contributions. federal filing list total expenses US$7.78 million was mainly used in two transactions: US$3.87 million was used to “support” Trump, and the same amount of money was used to “oppose” President Biden.
Based on Trump’s social media comments, more information about their relationship may soon emerge. Trump posted on “Truth Social” on Tuesday that the two will speak publicly together next week.
“I will be conducting a major interview with Elon Musk on Monday night – stay tuned for details!” Trump wrote.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump presidential campaign, said in an email: “Stay tuned! Very exciting stuff!”
“I don’t hate this man”
As recently as 2022, Musk and Trump were in trouble. Public feuds, public insults on social media, at political rallies and elsewhere.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail off into the sunset,” Musk wrote in a 2022 social media post.
That same year, Trump called Musk a “bull artist,” claiming the tech executive privately told him he voted for him.
What is clear is that Musk will not support Biden’s re-election.
Musk said he voted for Biden in 2020, but the next year the president excluded Musk from an electric vehicle summit at the White House, where he met with executives from various companies. General Motors, Ford and Strantis. Musk wrote in an article tweet“Yes, it seems strange that Tesla wasn’t invited.”
Biden is a pro-labor president, and Tesla does not belong to a union and has violated federal labor laws.
By 2022, as talk of the 2024 election heated up, Musk said he was leaning toward Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis eventually launched his presidential campaign in May 2023 with a live broadcast on Musk’s X website. Musk’s livestream with old friend David Sachs was a technological disaster, riddled with glitches. DeSantis’ campaign failed and officially ended in January.
Two months later, Musk reportedly traveled to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida just as Trump was trying to drum up support from donors. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on March 11, Trump made positive comments about Musk, saying that he had “been friendly with him over the years,” “helped him” when he was president, and “liked him.” he”.
“We obviously have opposing views on the little issue of electric vehicles,” Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen. “I’m all for electric vehicles, but you have to have all the alternatives,” he said, adding that electric vehicles “cost too much and they will all be made in China.”
Whatever their differences on electric vehicles, the two are increasingly aligned politically. Both described Vice President Harris as a communist and tended to lash out at anything involving DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). They have been outspoken against transgender rights and spread false reports about non-citizens voting in U.S. elections.
Former Ford CEO Mark Fields said this is more than just a political issue for Musk. Musk’s companies — Tesla, aerospace and defense contractor SpaceX, social media company X and artificial intelligence startup xAI — have many projects that could use help from the White House.
“The bottom line is, there are a lot of benefits to having a positive relationship with the president, not just potentially for areas like Tesla, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence or robotics, but also for areas like Tesla, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence or robotics,” Fields told CNBC last month. There are benefits to his other businesses, like SpaceX: “You can say to the president, ‘Hey, you know Boeing is a convicted felon, so give me the majority of your business. ‘”
Trump also said he would impose high tariffs on goods from China, where Tesla faces increasingly fierce competition.
Fields said Musk “knows he’s likely to take a tougher stance on China, which could help them in the U.S. because that’s one of their largest and most profitable markets.”
‘I have no choice’
Since gaining Musk’s endorsement, Trump has returned the praise.
“I think what he’s doing is great,” Trump said at the Bitcoin conference.
In Atlanta on Saturday, Trump continued the theme, telling the audience that he “For electric vehicles.” He added, “You know, I had to do it because Elon was so strongly supportive of me. So, I had no choice.”
Musk, meanwhile, has been moving to the right politically for years, and not just in the United States. , Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has developed ties and visited the Capitol Hill last month at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who addressed Congress about the Gaza war. speech.
Despite Musk’s public support for Trump, he appears to be sticking to his promise not to donate directly to candidates this election cycle, instead going the political action committee route.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris disembarks from Air Force Two after a campaign trip to Wisconsin at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., July 23, 2024.
Kevin Mohart | Reuters
instead, Musk is using X to promote his preferred candidates to his 193 million followers.
On the day Trump gave his speech in Nashville, Musk wrote “Save our kids!” There’s also a video of Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, saying he will sign an executive order cutting federal funding for schools and “promoting critical race theory” and “transgender madness.” .
And then there are Musk retweets parody of Kamala Harris campaign ad. The video makes it sound like Harris said she was chosen because she was “the ultimate diversity employee.” The video was not flagged as misleading, which would appear to be against the platform’s rules.
While Trump has considerable support in the tech sector, far beyond Musk’s support, many in the industry quickly rallied around Harris. As of this week, more than 750 people in the venture capital community have signed the “VCs for Kamala” pledge, which was first announced on July 31.
Legendary venture capitalist Mike Moritz took aim at Trump’s supporters in Silicon Valley in a Financial Times op-ed on Monday, saying they “made a big mistake.”
“I suspect they were seduced by the notion that with their leverage they would be able to control Trump,” Moritz wrote. “And I think they made another big mistake: deceiving themselves. Think he won’t do what he says or promises.”
— CNBC’s Brian Schwartz and Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.
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