After Meeting With Trump, Elon Musk Clarifies One Thing

UPDATE Mar 6, 2024 11:03 AM CST

After a report surfaced that Donald Trump met with Elon Musk as a potential campaign donor over the weekend, Musk is shooting down the possibility. "Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President," he tweeted Wednesday.

Mar 6, 2024 6:53 AM CST

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are both known as disrupters of sorts. Now, signs are emerging that the on-again, off-again richest man in the world may be looking to shake up the 2024 election season even more by funding the former president's latest run for the Oval Office. Sources tell the New York Times that the X/Tesla/SpaceX owner was spotted at a meeting on Sunday with Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, along with a handful of affluent Republican donors.

• What it means: It's not clear if Musk will actually be donating any of his nearly $200 billion to Trump's campaign, but the 52-year-old businessman has been blasting President Biden lately on his social media platform, and sources close to Musk say he wants Biden to lose in November.
• Trump's money woes: The apparent GOP nominee has seen his fortune dwindle as a result of recent judgments against him in two separate cases. The Times notes that Biden and his allies right now have a "huge financial advantage" over Trump—per the Wall Street Journal, Trump's campaign wrapped up January with $30.5 million on hand, to Biden's $56 million—but Musk "has the resources to almost single-handedly offset" that advantage, per Reuters.
• Musk's history with Trump: It's been tense at times, especially when Trump, as president, pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement. "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk tweeted at the time, noting he'd be leaving his role on two Trump business advisory councils. There's been other friction between the two men as well.
• Musk's political background: Long positioning himself as an independent, Musk has donated to candidates from both major political parties over the years, in a pretty even split. One source tells the Times that Musk's "relationship with the government had historically made him wary about identifying too closely with one political party over the other." In recent years, however, Musk has been leaning more right, at least online.
• Possible motivator: Immigration issues at the southern border may have helped drive Musk to Team Trump, one source tells the Times.