Donald Trump Has An Odd Habit That Hints He's Desperate For Elon Musk's Attention

Elon Musk, whose business ventures most notably include X, formerly known as Twitter, and Tesla, gave some insight into the relationship that he has with former president Donald Trump at a shareholder's meeting in June 2024. Musk said (via Tesla) that Trump, "does call me out of the blue. For no reason, I don't know why, but he does."

From some perspectives, it could be seen as a bit strange that Trump would be calling the world's richest person about anything. Not to mention, the relationship between Musk and Trump has certainly had its ups and downs over the years. The entrepreneur once told Trump on X to "hang up his hat and ride off into the sunset." So Trump, who is known for holding grudges, reaching out to Musk with impromptu phone calls seems like it's all about making sure he has the tech CEO's attention.

It's almost as though Trump was courting Musk in a way, calling him perhaps with the ulterior motive of trying to get a high-profile endorsement and some campaign cash from Musk. If so, it certainly seems to have worked. Musk endorsed the former president via X on July 13, shortly after the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Elon Musk said in the shareholder's meeting that he'd taken advantage of those out of the blue calls from Donald Trump to help change Trump's mind about electric cars. Musk said Trump was now a fan of Tesla, potentially because of his influence. He also said, "a lot of [Trump's] friends now have Teslas, and they all love it and he's a huge fan of the Cybertruck."

Trump had previously been very anti-electric cars, at least publicly. For a couple of examples: At a rally in Ohio in March 2024, Trump railed against electric cars saying they "don't go far; they cost too much, and they're all made in China," per The Times and The Sunday Times. In a Truth Social post on Christmas 2023, he referred to "THUGS [...] with their All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL."

Trump was somewhat surprisingly honest about his flip-flop on electric vehicles and how much it had to do with Musk. At an August 2024 rally in Atlanta, he said via Fox 5 Atlanta, "I'm for electric cars. I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. [...] So I have no choice."

News seems to have gotten out that Donald Trump is a fan of the Tesla Cybertruck. He was gifted a personalized version of the vehicle by Adin Ross during an August 2024 Kick livestream. (In an interesting twist, Donald's interview with the controversial streamer was Barron Trump approved.) The truck had been customized with the picture of Donald raising his fist after he was shot at during a campaign rally. Whether Donald is allowed to keep the truck is up for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to decide; campaign contributions, including gifts like this, are subject to a $3,300 cap.

While Elon Musk hasn't gone so far as to gift Trump a Tesla, in July 2024, it was reported that he planned to donate $45 million a month in support of the former president. Trump even repeated the claim at a campaign rally. However, Musk quickly clarified that he wouldn't be donating that much money to Trump, but he did confirm that he helped start a super PACcalled the America PAC. Shortly after its formation in May 2024, it already spent millions in support of Donald's campaign.

However, as of August 2024, the PAC was being investigated for the legality around some of the voter information that it collected. We wonder if that will come up in the next phone call Donald makes to Musk.