Apu Gomes via Getty Images; Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk is a huge supporter of former President Donald Trump's campaign. But the mercurial billionaire was once a skeptic — and very vocal about why he thought Trump shouldn't govern the US.
Back in July 2022, Musk criticized Trump after the former president called him a "bullshit artist" during a rally in Alaska. Trump claimed at the rally that Musk had lied about voting for him in 2016.
"I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset," Musk wrote in an X post on July 11, 2022.
Musk later said in a follow-up post the same day that having Trump as president would result in "too much drama."
"Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!?" Musk added. "Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of presidential term should be 69."
Musk then went on to pitch Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida as a far more superior candidate to Trump because of his younger age.
"Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America. If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn't even need to campaign," he wrote in a subsequent post.
Musk would go on to host DeSantis' campaign launch on X in May 2023, which was riddled with technical glitches and delays. DeSantis eventually dropped out of the race in January and endorsed Trump instead.
Despite his earlier stance, Musk seems to have no issue with Trump's age and temperament now.
The pair got closer this year, eventually culminating in a full-throated endorsement of Trump from Musk after Trump survived a failed assassination attempt on July 13.
And now, Musk is all-in for Trump.
On Sunday, Musk propositioned fellow tech billionaires, such as LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman and early OpenAI backer Vinod Khosla, to join him in backing the Trump-Vance ticket.
Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2024
The billionaire told Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson in an interview on Monday that his support for Trump stemmed from his disappointment with the Democratic Party.
"I don't sort of subscribe to cults of personality. For me, it's really just we've got a choice of administrations and we have to pick one. I think there are flaws on both sides," Musk said.
.@jordanbpeterson sits down with @elonmusk for a live interview at Gigafactory Texas, setting the stage for a podcast the world has been waiting for. Tune in at 3pm ET.https://t.co/8GGyLdprvL
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 22, 2024
"Many years ago, I think the Democratic Party was the party of meritocracy and of personal freedom. They used to be the free speech party, and these days, they seem to be the censorship party under the guise of hate speech," Musk said. "So weirdly, in my view, the Republican Party is actually the meritocracy party."
Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.
