Trump Says He Has ‘Very Good Relationship’ With Elon Musk ‘Despite The Fact That I’m Against The Electric Car Mandate’

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump discussed his relationship with Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Thursday, saying that the two have a “very good” connection.

Musk “fully” endorsed Trump shortly after a would-be assassin hit the former president in the right ear at his Butler County, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13.

“Elon and I have a very good relationship. As you know, he endorsed me very strongly,” Trump said during an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning. “Somebody told me he was going to give me $45 million a month. I said that sounds like a lot, and even for Elon, that’s a lot. … There was a reporter that wrote it, but he never told me he was giving me $45 million, but he did say, ‘I strongly endorse you,’ despite the fact that I’m against the electric car mandate.”

Donald Trump responded to questions about his relationship with Elon Musk and addressed the WSJ hoax claiming that Musk was giving him $45 million a month:

“Elon and I have a very good relationship. He endorsed me very strongly.

Somebody told me he was going to give me $45… pic.twitter.com/PMmzQXJTau

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 25, 2024

After Trump said at the Republican National Convention that he would “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X, “A surprising number of people think that Tesla survives on subsidies. That is true of our competitors, but not of Tesla.” Asked to comment specifically on Trump’s proposal to end EV mandates, Musk said, “It will be fine.”

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Musk was planning on donating $45 million a month to help elect Trump, but Musk denied that report during a DailyWire+ interview on Monday with psychologist Dr. Jordan B. Peterson.

“What’s been reported in the media is simply not true. I’m not donating $45 million a month to Trump,” Musk told Peterson. “What I have done is created a PAC [political action committee] or Super PAC … the America PAC.”

In a follow-up tweet on Tuesday, Musk wrote, “I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level and the key values of the PAC are supporting a meritocracy & individual freedom. Republicans are mostly, but not entirely, on the side of merit & freedom.”

Musk, who supported Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, has become increasingly critical of the Left and the Democratic Party.

“Years ago, I think probably the Democratic Party was the party of meritocracy and of personal freedom,” Musk told Peterson. “They used to be the free speech party, and these days, they seem to be the censorship party under the guise of hate speech. … The Democrats are also promoting DEI, which is really just another form of racism and sexism.”