Inside Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s complicated relationship: the Tesla boss didn’t want him to be president and distanced himself from Ivanka – but still wants him back on Twitter

May 14 , 2022

Do Donald Trump and Elon Musk actually like each other? Sometimes it can be hard to tell. Photos: AFP, Reuters

Trump called Musk one of America’s ‘great geniuses’, even after the SpaceX founder left the former president’s advisory team over his climate change policy

Ivanka idolises Musk, but when she misunderstood his tweet about taking the red pill from The Matrix, Musk publicly dismissed her interpretation

New Twitter owner-to-be Elon Musk revealed this week that he would reinstate Donald Trump on the social media platform, more than a year after he was banned. But the South African-born billionaire has a complicated relationship with the former US president. He has been vocal about his opposition to Trump leading the US and his controversial policies, however, Donald and his daughter Ivanka have had nothing but kind words for the SpaceX boss.

So is Musk actually a Republican? Is he friends with Trump? Here’s what you need to know.

Donald and Ivanka Trump both idolise Elon Musk

Ivanka Trump fan girling over Elon Musk at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2015. Photo: @Ivanka Trump/Facebook

In April 2015, Ivanka shared a post on social media where she revealed that Musk is “one of [her] idols’’, calling him “brilliant” and an “innovator in every sense of the word”.

“If you haven’t listened to his Ted Talks you should do it today!” she added below a snap of the two of them together at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner a year before Donald won the election.

Donald has also proven to be an enduring fan of Musk when, in January 2020, despite their rocky relationship until that point, the then-president told CNBC that the Tesla founder was “one of our great geniuses, and we have to protect our genius”.

Musk didn’t want Trump to be president

Elon Musk and Donald Trump did not always see eye to eye. Photo: Getty Images/TNS, AFP

In October 2015, Musk said it would be “embarrassing” if Trump was nominated as the Republican candidate for president and admitted he thought that was the furthest the property mogul would get in the presidential race. Days before the election, he told CNBC that Trump was “not the right guy” for the job because he “doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States”.