Trump-Musk friendship: How two billionaires met, hated each other and then became best buddies

Two billionaires are the best of buddies in the world's oldest continuing democracy. Not very surprising. But one is the President of the United States – Donald Trump – and the other is a tech billionaire leading multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and X – Elon Musk. Needless to say, they are the world's two most powerful men.

Their bromance is not for the light hearted. The relation has seen everything. From Musk becoming the self-titled “first buddy” to POTUS to Trump describing Musk as one of the world's “greatest geniuses" to rumours indicating a potential end to their relationship, and even exchanging insults, they've endured it all.

The relationship had a rocky start. Here's a comprehensive timeline of their friendship:

2016

Musk was no fan of Trump. In 2016, he publicly said that Trump was not fit to run for the White House.

"I feel a bit stronger that he is not the right guy. He doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," Musk told CNBC at the time.

This, however, changed quickly after Musk was appointed by Trump to an economic advisory council following Trump's first election win. In June 2017, everything changed.

2017

Trump, now the US President, decided to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. Musk immediately resigned. Their first professional stint together did not end well.

Jonathan Swan, a White House reporter, told The New York Times that the two men had no relationship in 2017. “Musk thought Trump was kind of an idiot,” Swan said.

Musk criticised Trump publicly and supported Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida for president.

Cut to 2022, something changed and Trump reached out to Musk.

January 2022

Five years later, Trump rekindled the relationship by calling Musk as one of the world's “greatest geniuses”.

The President-elect told CNBC that the SpaceX boss was “one of our very smart people.” 

But this was short-lived. Just six months later, speaking about free speech at a rally in Alaska, Trump ripped into Musk and referred to him as “another bulls*** artist”.

“Elon is not going to buy Twitter… he said the other day ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican’. I said ‘I didn’t know that’. He told me he voted for me. So he’s another bulls*** artist," Trump said at the rally.

Well, how could Musk take Trump's insults silently. A war of words ensued with Musk suggesting Trump to “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset”.

This didn't end here though. In a social media post, Trump claimed he would have made Musk “drop to (his) knees and beg” when he was in the White House. The post on X has now been deleted. Musk responded with this: 

Musk was not a “bulls*** artist” after all. He officially completed the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022. Trump's account, banned since the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, was reinstated by Musk. In fact, Musk had launched a poll on Twitter to decide on this. The “yes” won and Trump was back on Twitter, now X.

A year later, everything begin to change.

2023

Musk secretly started supporting Trump, sharing his ideas at dinner with some of the wealthiest people in the world. White House reported Swan told the NYT that Musk's adviser on political spending was Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s closest aides.

Musk began to align more with Trump's policies, including those on immigration and the US-Mexico 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.

Musk still would not donate to a candidate in the presidential election. But then something monumental happened – an assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, and again the dynamics of their relationship shifted.

2024

Musk endorsed Trump and hosted him on X for a “conversation” that quickly became a rant on Trump's campaign rallies. During this talk, Musk “casually” suggested that Trump form a commission focused on "government efficiency" and appoint him to it. Then he posted on X, “I'm willing to serve".

In October 2024, Musk and Trump made their first public appearance together at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Musk wore a “Make America Great Again" (MAGA) cap and publicly supported Trump in the presidential race.

A month later, Trump announced that Musk and his formal presidential candidate rival Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a new "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), which will operate as an independent advisory group to cut government spending and streamline bureaucracy.

Their friendship blossomed again. Trump travelled to Texas to witness SpaceX's Starship launch alongside Musk in November. Reports said that the pair spends “almost every day together”.

And then there were descriptions of the Tesla boss as “president Musk” which Trump had to personally address. “No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump declared in a speech. “That’s not happening.”

The pair, however, has been inseparable since. A report from The New York Times revealed that Musk spent much of the last two months since the election renting a $2,000-per-night cottage on the grounds of the president-elect’s Florida residence – which is located just several hundred feet from the main house.

Trouble in paradise?

But not all is well in paradise, it seems. Reports suggest that Trump is becoming increasingly annoyed with his “first buddy” after Musk's public spat with other members of the MAGA hardcore over H1B visas.

“100 percent Trump is annoyed,” a source who worked on Trump’s re-election campaign told the Independent. “There’s a Chinese saying: ‘two tigers cannot live on one mountaintop.’”

Whatever it is, the two men, for now at least, are BFFS – supporting and hyping each other up in tough times. On Monday, Trump vowed to buy a “brand new Tesla” in a show of support for Musk, after one of the worst one-day share price falls in the carmaker’s history. Two days later, he is now the owner of a shiny red Tesla that Musk helped to pick.

Tesla – owned by Musk – has seen its shares plunge since the start of the year, plummeting by more than another 15% on Monday to its lowest level since the end of October as sales of the electric car firm comes under pressure from Chinese rivals. The car giant has also suffered amid protests and calls for a boycott over Musk’s close ties with Trump and far-right causes.

Whether this relationship will stand the test of time or wither away, only time will tell, or maybe Tesla's shares will. As of now, if Trump were to ride into the sunset, he'd do it with his best buddy Musk.

(With inputs from agencies)