Their relationship was already cold.
And it's a good bet that the most recent remarks from Elon Musk, the new icon of the conservatives, about Donald Trump will not warm his ties with the former Republican president.
On Nov. 15, just days after the midterm elections produced disappointing results for the GOP, Trump announced his candidacy for reelection in 2024. For many right-wing voters -- including major donors to the Republican Party who wanted him to step aside and enable a new generation -- this is very bad news.
"It is time for the Republican Party to turn to a new generation of leaders, and I intend to support one of them in the presidential primaries," Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of private-equity titan Blackstone (BX), said at the time. Schwarzman had donated $3.7 million during Trump’s first term to committees that supported the controversial president.
On the other hand, this rejection of the former president benefited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The 44 year-old is seen as a rising star and his success in Florida has made him the darling of the Republican business establishment.
Musk Will Vote for DeSantis
Musk was one of the first to publicly announce that DeSantis was his choice for the 2024 presidential election. He argued that DeSantis has the advantage of being much younger than Trump.
Musk had proposed an age limit for the presidential candidates, to automatically eliminate both Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden. The current president will be 82 and Trump will be past 78 at the time of the election in 2024.
"Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America," Musk said last July. "If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn’t even need to campaign."
Last June, Musk promised that he would commit $20 million to $25 million to support his chosen candidate for 2024.
With support from the financial establishment, DeSantis, who has yet to announce a presidential bid, has become Trump's main rival for the Republican primary.
The problem is that the former president appears to have solidified his grip on the Republican voter base, with supporters of DeSantis increasingly worried.
Trump's lead has grown sharply in the polls since his indictment last month by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts. The charges stem from a $130,000 hush-money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump denies the charges.
It was in this context that Musk was asked about Trump by Fox News' Tucker Carlson during an interview that aired on April 17.
'We Have Difficult Choices to Make': Musk
Carlson: You've allowed Donald Trump back on Twitter. He hasn't taken you up on your offer because he's got his own thing.
Musk: Right.
Carlson: Do you think he will go back on Twitter?
Musk: Well, that's obviously up to him. You know, my job is to, you know, I take freedom of speech very seriously. So it's -- you know, I didn't vote for Donald Trump. I actually voted for Biden. And so -- not saying I'm a huge fan of Biden because I would think that would probably be inaccurate. But, you know, we have difficult choices to make in these presidential elections. It's not --
Carlson: Yes.
Musk: I would prefer, frankly, that we put someone, just a normal person as president --
Carlson: Yeah.
Musk: A normal person with common sense and whose values are smack in the middle of the country, you know, just center of the normal distribution. And I think that they would be great. I think we have made maybe being president not that much fun, you know, to be totally frank.
This is not the first time that Musk has criticized Trump.
Last year, the two men sparred, with the former president calling Musk a "bullshit artist."
"You know, 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 bullshit artist," Trump said during a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 9.
Two days later, Musk's response came in and it couldn't be clearer: "Not true," the chief executive of Tesla (TSLA) wrote on Twitter. Musk did not specify whether it was not true that he told Trump that he voted for him or that he spoke to Trump.
Musk went further and asserted that it was time for Trump to leave the political scene, or in any case to end his political career.
"I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset," the entrepreneur said.
