From besties to frenemies: Donald Trump and Elon Musk

TimesLIVE

17 hours ago

The puzzling rise to presidential fame for Donald Trump has been met with just as much fervour as Elon Musk's ascension in US politics. What seemingly started off as a bromance between like-minded political allies soon turned into a sour feud that spilled out on social media.
On the one hand, Musk claimed Trump would never have made his return to the White House without his help. On the other, Trump believes his former political partner is just throwing his toys out of the cot. But what has led to the rise and eventual fallout of America's biggest social players? From Mara-a-Lago playdates to exploding satellites, here's how the political BFFs became IRL enemies.
1990: THE POLITICAL BACHELOR
Described by ex-New York mayor Ed Koch as 'a bachelor who lived for politics', Trump's ascension to the White House dates back to the 90s. One of the biggest interviews he gave, suggesting he has been aware of fans calling for him to enter the Oval Office, was with Playboy. Critics at the time also noted that his main focus was on the working class and the bills that affect businesses.
1999: YOU'VE GOT X.COM
Enamoured by digital entrepreneurship, one of Musk's first ventures into the digital space was co-founding Zip2 with his brother. The business was a digitised version of the Yellow Pages and sold for more than $300m. The windfall would help Musk start X.com, X being a letter he would become obsessed with over the years. The site was built to be a digital payment system and would later lead to some of his strongest connections. With three other co-founders, the business would help establish Musk as a force to be reckoned with.
During this time, Trump would announce on the Larry King Show that he would be taking politics seriously, announcing the formation of a 'presidential exploratory committee' that would become effective the day after the interview. Much like Musk at the time, his political opinion was liberal, saying he was 'getting much more liberal, on health care and other things. I really say, what's the purpose of a country if you're not going to have defence and health care?'
2000: WHEN PAY MET PAL
X.com would eventually merge with Confinity and become PayPal as it is known today. Now working with a new partner, Peter Thiel, the pair would sell PayPal two years later. Musk was on honeymoon when the deal was made and he was removed as CEO, according to The Times.
2002: AMERICAN DREAMS
Musk, who has dual South African and Canadian citizenship, started his process of becoming an American citizen in 1996. While no reasons have been published as to why the American dream was calling him, Musk initially had a study visa when he studied at the University of Pennsylvania. This would help him become a naturalised American. This would also be the year Musk became famous for his involvement in SpaceX and its subsidiary satellite business, Starlink.
Musk's odd business deals would also come to the fore at this time when he founded The Musk Foundation, which benefited OpenAI, a business he also owned. Several donors admitted to pumping much of their wealth into the foundation.
2004: TESLA AND THE CITY
A year after it was founded, Musk's favourite adopted baby, Tesla, landed in his lap. By 2008, he managed to wrangle the CEO position. All thanks to a $6.5m investment.
2011: THE THIEL SINGER
PayPal Mafia member Peter Thiel would come back into the spotlight when his future mentee JD Vance would write a sugary OpEd in the Catholic magazine The Lamp where he described meeting Thiel as 'the most siginificant moment of my life'.
2015: AI ACTUALLY
Musk's meteoric rise saw with it the growing interest in AI. He would take a lead role at OpenAI with the sentiment that he could help develop 'friendly' AI. Meanwhile, Vance would embrace his first career pivot out of law and join Thiel's company, Mithril Capital. This would also put a spotlight on Vance as a writer when another column of his garnered fame for him and Thiel's business. This would also help him consider a run for office.
2016: LIFE AS WE BLOW IT
Musk's growing fame and pursuits would soon see him cross paths with Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. But the two were not keen on braiding each other's hair, especially after Zuckerberg slighted Musk for his failed SpaceX maiden flight. The feud was ignited by Zuckerberg's Facebook post that claimed the SpaceX flight destroyed one of his satellites, while Musk chose Twitter as his weapon of choice to retort, 'Yeah, my fault for being an idiot. We did give them a free launch to make up for it and I think they had some insurance.'
While mean girls like Regina George of Mean Girls relied on a private burn book, Musk continued to throw shade at any rival, including Trump. Musk said he was not confident of his role as an American president because 'he doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the US'. Trump would not hit back but remained silent on the criticism. Instead, their bond would be cemented a month into Trump's first month in office that would see Musk join his advisory council.
2017: ALONG CAME CLIMATE CHANGE
It wouldn't be long before Musk was back on the Twitter streets to vent his frustrations with Trump. In a tweet, Musk announced he was stepping down from the Oval Office after the US' exit from the Paris Climate Agreement. Musk was still liberal in his political beliefs, even posting support for the LGBTQ+ community, swatting off any homophobes from buying Teslas. Vance would echo the sentiments in his writing that spoke ill of Trump, even comparing him to Hitler.
Zuckerberg and Musk would continue to bicker, particularly on the subject of AI. The back and forth would end with a Tweet from Musk stating the Facebook founder's 'understanding of the subject is limited'.
2018: WHAT'S FACEBOOK GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Musk and Zuckerberg's relationship worsened. It would eventually push Musk off the platform and see him embrace Twitter as a premier space for communication. When speaking to WhatsApp founder Brian Acton, he would ask 'What's Facebook?' and suggest everyone leave the platform. At this time, Trump was taking a 'very restrained' approach to social media.
2021: A VANCE TO REMEMBER
Vance would finally make it into the inner circle thanks to his PayPal Mafia bestie, Thiel. The latter would introduce him to Trump at Mar-a-Lago to repair their difficult relationship. Trump endorsed him a year later during his run as a senator for Ohio.
2022: HOW TO WIN A MUSK IN 10 DAYS
Smooth-talking Musk, calling him the greatest genius on a par with Thomas Edison, Trump had his right-hand man back on his side. Six months later, Trump would call Musk 'another bull**** artist' in response to his promise to buy Twitter. Trump's feathers were ruffled by the fact that he was already on a mission to open his own social media business, Truth Social. The clip went viral on Twitter, Musk's preferred playground, so naturally he had a response: 'I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.' The back and forth would continue with Trump claiming Musk would come crawling back, to which Musk responded: 'Lmaooo [laughing my *** off].'
Much to Trump's surprise, Musk went through with the Twitter acquisition in October. Musk would extend an olive branch by running a poll to reinstate Trump on Twitter after the Twitter ban. The vote was for his return at 51.8%. Shortly after that, he would rename the platform X.
2023: SLEEPLESS IN THE US BORDER
A considerable shift in Musk's politics would come up late in the year when he fully backed Trump's US border wall. 'We actually do need a wall and we need to require people to have some shred of evidence to claim asylum to enter, as everyone is doing that ...' Musk wrote. However, nothing was official about his backing of either the Democrats or the Republicans at the time.
Elon Musk receives a golden key from Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House.
Image: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
2024: HOW TRUMP GOT HIS MUSK BACK
After Trump's shooting incident during a rally, Musk backed him as his official candidate seconds later. There were claims that Musk footed $45m. A month later, the pair went live on X where Musk would shoot his shot at a government efficiency job. Trump would also start to embrace Twitter and AI as a means of communication.
They would have their first public appearance in 2024 when Trump returned to the scene of the crime in Pennsylvania calling himself 'dark MAGA' and sporting a black Make America Great Again T-shirt. Other than going viral for his childish antics, Musk announced he would give away $1m to voters in swing states who signed a petition for free speech and the right to bear arms.
NOVEMBER 2024: MAMMA MAR-A-LAGO
The relationship would be cemented by the very same trip with Vance in Mara-a-Lago. They would spend the night with other Republican supporters to watch the live election results. Trump announced the appointment of Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as leaders of Doge (department of government efficiency). The pair would be spotted at a SpaceX launch. It was at this point that Musk called himself 'the first buddy', amid reports he was sitting in on several meetings with international dignitaries.
Trump would also hire Thiel and PayPal Mafia member David Sacks, the latter focused on advising the president on AI and cryptocurrencies.
DECEMBER 2025: MR & MR PRESIDENT
Tensions would rise again when media outlets would start rumours of 'President Musk'. Trump would eventually denounce the rumours of Musk's ascension to the White House. The rumour would be quelled by news of Musk renting out a $2,000 cottage on the premises of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. While he did not take it to X this time around, Musk would leave Trump and other Republicans irate over time. Sources told Mediate that Trump was 100% annoyed with Musk's spat with MAGA members about H1B visas (a type of working visa in the US), which they simplified as 'two tigers cannot live on one mountain top'.
JANUARY 2025: FAR FROM THE MAGA CROWD
After a tour de force of surprise announcements, Trump left the globe in a tailspin. This would also include the unexpected exit of Vivek Ramaswamy from Doge to run for the Ohio governor seat in 2026. With Musk in the driver's seat, critics started to notice he could not deliver on the promises he made. This included 100,000 layoffs that would land the Trump administration in hot water for the job cuts. The Independent reported that things were only getting worse for Musk and Trump's supporters with a West Wing brawl between him and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent making headlines.
MAY 2025: IT ENDS WITH DOGE
Things would start to fall apart between the pair when it was announced during a cabinet meeting late in April that Musk would be leaving Doge. His last day in the position would be in May. The reasons Musk cited were that Doge would be able to run on its own and that he needed to spend less time in the capital city.
Trump would continue business as usual until Musk criticised his 'Big Beautiful Bill'.
JUNE 2025: MY BIG FAT BEAUTIFUL BILL
Musk would find resolve in expressing his anger on X again as he continued to criticise the Big Beautiful Bill. 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it any more. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,' he posted. Musk's qualms with the bill were that it could potentially ramp up US debt. However, during a White House briefing Trump expressed his disappointment with Musk's posts, saying 'he [Musk] had no problem with it' in earlier conversations about the bill. The pair would trade blows on their respective sites, Truth Social and X. Trump made disparaging comments about Tesla and Musk took parting shots in which he suggested the president wouldn't have won the election without him.