Elon Musk, as one of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's highest profile supporters, has earned praise from the former president. He "is a once-in-a-generation industry leader, and our broken federal bureaucracy could certainly benefit from his ideas and efficiency," Trump told Newsweek.
But this mutual respect and admiration has not always prevailed. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk endorsed Trump as his choice for the next U.S. president as late as July 13. The former Democrat switched sides, pouring millions into his pro-Trump committee America PAC.
As recently as 2022, Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he had "strongly supported Obama for President" in 2007, having donated thousands of dollars to both Obama and fellow Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton that year. Additional donations to Clinton came during her 2015 campaign, and Musk criticized Trump's character in a 2016 interview with CNBC.
Having said he voted for Biden in 2020, his donations since have been to Republican organizations; although Musk said in 2021 that he "would prefer to stay out of politics."
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