Why Is Elon Musk Supporting Donald Trump?
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."Musk's more vocal support for a Republican agenda seems to have surfaced around the same time as his Twitter takeover in November 2022, posting on November 7: "I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic."Before his official endorsement of Trump in July, Musk's support for the Republican presidential nominee began to publicly surface on X in March, 2024, when he referred to Trump's critics as having "Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)".So, why has Musk thrown so much money and effort behind a potential Trump presidency?
From similar approaches to deregulation to aligning views on gender ideology and transgender rights, the Tesla CEO may feel his multi-billion investment on supporting a Trump win in November will pay off.Newsweek reached out to Elon Musk via email for comment.
