When Elon Musk Said Donald Trump “Is Not the Right Guy” to Become President of the Country

Elon Musk and Donald Trump have been at odds for a considerable amount of time; the Tesla founder has frequently expressed his disapproval of the Republican leader. Back in 2016, Musk said that Trump "is not the right guy" to be the president of the United States in an exclusive interview with CNBC.  "I feel a bit stronger that he is probably not the right guy. He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," Musk said during the interview. 

As reported by The Business Insider, Musk stated that the economic and environmental policies of Hillary Clinton are the "right ones," but he also added, "I don't think is our finest hour in democracy in general."  As reported by The Hill, the former president while addressing a political rally in Alaska in 2022 called Musk a “bullshit artist” for supporting his opponents in 2016 and 2020. “He said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican,’” Trump mocked. “I said, ‘I didn’t know that,’” Trump continued. “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another bullshit artist.” Musk tweeted that he cast his first Republican vote for Mayra Flores, the representative who won a Texas special election and upset a long-held Democratic House seat. Based on information from the Federal Elections Commission, the CEO of X had donated to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. Since then, Trump has detested the Democratic connection.

Musk revealed at the Qatar Economic Forum that he was "undecided" regarding Trump's possible reelection effort, despite having stated just a few days prior that he was leaning toward backing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in 2024. As reported by The Tampa Bay Times, Musk leaned heavily towards Florida Governor DeSantis. “I supported Yang last time, but DeSantis has a better chance of winning.” Together with Musk, DeSantis declared his long-awaited presidential run during a live Twitter Spaces event in May.

“Trump would be 82 at the end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk had tweeted then. “If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win — he doesn’t even need to campaign.” Musk expressed his hope on Twitter in November for "someone sensible and centrist" to be the next president. When asked if he would back DeSantis, he said he would. 

DeSantis praised Musk for taking over Twitter and expressed agreement with him that the company, like others in Silicon Valley, has evolved into an "intellectual cocoon" in which "woke ideology permeates everything." “Over the last many years, they’ve been exporting that ideology via these social platforms around the world, and it’s, I think, infected politics, culture in a very negative way,” DeSantis said. “So I applaud him for taking on Twitter, trying to moor it back towards facts and truth, and stop to always parrot the ideology and trying to censor beliefs that conflict with it.” The 2024 presidential hopeful however refrained from commenting more on the support from Musk.