5 minPolitics
Trump and Musk Rebuild Ties After a Feud That Reached the Machinery of Government
The president and the billionaire are speaking again after a rupture that touched federal contracts, SpaceX, DOGE and the 2026 Republican campaign.
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have resumed regular contact after one of the most consequential political-business breakups of Trump’s second term. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 14 that the two men now speak roughly once a month, discussing subjects including China, artificial intelligence and international affairs. The renewed relationship is also visible in campaign finance: Musk is preparing a Republican turnout operation expected to receive at least $100 million from him ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The history behind that reconciliation stretches back a decade. Musk opposed Trump’s candidacy in 2016, saying he did not believe Trump was the right person to serve as president. After the election, Musk joined presidential business councils but resigned in June 2017 when Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.
Their relationship improved during Trump’s first term. In 2020, Trump publicly praised Musk and supported Tesla in its dispute with California authorities over reopening its Fremont plant during COVID restrictions. But the alignment was temporary. In 2022, the two exchanged personal attacks, with Musk saying Trump should leave politics. The following year, Musk hosted Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign launch on Twitter Spaces while DeSantis was challenging Trump for the Republican nomination.
The decisive political realignment came in July 2024. After Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk endorsed him. In August, the two held a lengthy conversation on X in which Musk proposed a government-efficiency commission. In October, Musk appeared at Trump’s Butler rally. He ultimately spent at least roughly $250 million on Trump and allied Republican political activity during the 2024 cycle.
After winning the election, Trump announced a government-efficiency initiative involving Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. A January 20, 2025 executive order established the U.S. DOGE Service. The White House later told a federal court that Musk was a White House employee and senior adviser, not the administrator of DOGE, and that he had no independent formal authority to make government decisions. Even with that legal distinction, Musk became the most recognizable public figure associated with the administration’s drive to reduce federal spending and staffing.
The relationship was especially close in March 2025, when Trump displayed Tesla vehicles at the White House and said he would buy one. On May 30, Trump appeared with Musk in the Oval Office as Musk’s stint as a special government employee ended. Six days later, the relationship broke apart over Trump’s tax-and-spending legislation.
Musk attacked the bill as fiscally irresponsible. Trump responded by threatening to terminate government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies. Musk backed a call for Trump’s impeachment and briefly said SpaceX would decommission Dragon spacecraft before reversing himself. He also made an unsubstantiated social-media claim involving Trump and Epstein-related files, then removed it. The claim did not establish criminal involvement by Trump. On June 11, Musk said he regretted some of his posts because they had gone too far.
The conflict continued into July, when Musk announced an America Party. But the political break did not hold. Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles had already opened channels with Musk shortly after the June blowup. Trump and Musk met publicly at Charlie Kirk’s memorial in September, and Musk attended a White House dinner in November. In early 2026, Musk donated $10 million to the principal Republican congressional fundraising organizations.
The most concrete evidence of reconciliation came in May 2026. Musk traveled with Trump to China and told the president he intended to support Republicans in the midterms. The White House photographed Trump introducing Musk to Chinese officials in Beijing. By late July, America PAC’s planned turnout effort made the scale of the renewed political cooperation clear.
Neither side is portraying the arrangement as a return to early 2025. Musk has acknowledged becoming too involved in politics, while Trump has privately indicated to aides that the relationship will not be as close as before. That makes the current relationship more institutional than emotional: campaign support, policy conversations and access have returned, but the memory of the 2025 rupture remains part of the structure.
