Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X and the aeronautic company Space X, has “fully endorsed” the GOP nominee, former president Donald Trump. And Musk is aligning more than just his considerable influence behind Trump — he’s also backing the GOP nominee financially, to the tune of $45 million a month according to Wall Street Journal reports.
I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery pic.twitter.com/ZdxkF63EqF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2024
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is criticizing the relationship between Musk and Trump this week, reminding Americans of what Trump said about how he viewed Musk when he was in the White House — as a man dependent on the government “without which subsidies he’d be worthless.”
You bent the knee. pic.twitter.com/5CNAWvZFSv
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 16, 2024
In the wake of Musk’s endorsement, which comes during a moment when the Trump candidacy looks strong, Musk’s detractors are resurfacing comments Trump made asserting how reliant Musk’s companies are on U.S. subsidies.
In 2022 when Trump’s resurgence looked less certain and Musk looked less supportive, Trump wrote of Musk: “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, “drop to your knees and beg,” and he would have done it…”
Newsom amplified the tweet (with a photo of Musk standing beside Trump who is smiling and sitting in the Oval Office), “You bent at the knee.” Elon Musk responded to Newsom: “You never get off your knees.”
You never get off your knees
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2024
On Tuesday, Musk announced that he’s moving his X and Space X headquarters from California to the red state of Texas. Musk cited the new California law barring school districts from requiring parents to be notified of a child’s gender identification change as “the final straw.”
MAGA Governor Greg Abbott responded to the X HQ move by writing: “X marks the spot. teXas is the HQ for business.”