Old social media posts in which billionaire Trump-supporter Elon Musk calls for Donald Trump to retire from politics resurface after the former established himself as a large proponent of the latter's campaign leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
On Jul. 11, 2022, a clip of the then-former President speaking at one of his rallies was posted by Breitbart News, in which he derides the SpaceX CEO for lying about how he voted in earlier presidential elections. The rally took place two days earlier, in Anchorage, Alaska.
"Another one of our highest priorities under a Republican Congress will be to stop left-wing censorship and to restore free speech in America. And go out by the way, while I'm here, and sign up now for Truth Social, it's hot as a pistol," Trump began.
"I'll tell you what, Elon is not gonna buy Twitter. Where did you hear that before? From me," he said, turning his attention to the billionaire.
"He's got himself a mess. You know he said the other day "Oh I've never voted for a Republican," and I said "I didn't know that." He told me he voted for me. So he's another bullsh-t artist but he's not going to be buying it. Although he might later, who the hell knows what's going to happen? He's got a pretty rotten contract," he continued.
"I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset," Musk posted in response to the video. "Dems should also call off the attack – don't make it so that Trump's only way to survive is to regain the Presidency."
A month prior to this exchange, Musk stated that he had cast his first-ever vote for a Republican when he voted for Texas special election winner Mayra Flores. He had also stated that he was "leaning towards" voting for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if DeSantis were to launch a bid for the presidency ahead of the 2024 elections.
Musk went on to be one of Trump's greatest supporters throughout the course of his campaign for re-election in 2024. The political action committee Musk founded, America PAC, was reported to have invested about $200 million into Trump's campaign.
