Musk backed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and former President Joe Biden in 2020, but did work with Trump at times during his first term. He said in 2017 that simply attacking Trump would "achieve nothing," calling for "open channels of communication" with the president.

Trumpworld insiders fear that Elon Musk’s attacks on Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” could kill it—and are already advising candidates to turn their backs on the world’s richest man.