A timeline of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s relationship Clutch Fire

Musk publicly endorses Trump following an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Musk posts on social media platform X: “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”

In August, Musk held a conversation with Trump on X. The glitchy livestream got off to an inauspicious start, with technical difficulties delaying the event for almost an hour.

Trump and Musk congratulated each other in a wide-ranging chat, covering topics such as then-Vice President Kamala Harris, how Trump handled the assassination attempt and climate change.

Musk later suggests he’s “willing to serve” in government. The Tesla CEO posted an image of himself on X as a representative of DOGE, an acronym for the Department of Government Efficiency.

In early October, Musk appears at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, where Trump survived the earlier assassination attempt.

Wearing a cap with the “Make America Great Again” slogan of the Trump campaign, Musk said Trump was the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.”

Public displays of alignment continue, reinforcing Musk’s growing proximity to Trump’s political comeback.

After Trump’s re-election, Musk is appointed to lead DOGE alongside former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The department is formed via executive order with a mission to slash federal spending and bureaucracy.

“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump said in a statement at the time.

Ramaswamy would later leave his role as co-lead of DOGE to pursue elected office.

Maye Musk, Elon’s mother, later comments that the two “just seem to be having fun.”

Two weeks after his election victory, Trump attended a SpaceX “Starship” rocket launch in Texas alongside Musk.

At Trump’s inauguration, Musk receives lavish praise from the president: “We have a new star. A star is born. Elon!”

Musk joins Trump’s CEO calls, alongside leaders from Amazon, Google, Meta, and others.

In early March, Trump tells members of the Cabinet that they are in charge of the respective agencies and departments they oversee — not Musk. The tech mogul later posts on X that the meeting was “very productive.”

Trump turns the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom and defends Musk as the electric vehicle maker incurs a global backlash.

“He’s built this great company, and he shouldn’t be penalized because he’s a patriot,” Trump said at the time.

The president also described the cars as “beautiful” and said he would buy one.

Musk pledges to “significantly” reduce his involvement in DOGE over the coming weeks.

Reports emerge of Musk being distracted and over-stretched, fueling concerns among Tesla and SpaceX investors.

At the time of Tesla’s first-quarter earnings in April — which missed expectations — the EV maker’s shares were down more than 40% over the year so far.

In an interview with CBS News, Musk publicly criticizes Trump’s signature tax and spending bill, saying it counters the work he’s been doing to reduce wasteful government spending.

“I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he said.

Trump responded to the critique by saying he wasn’t happy with certain aspects of the bill, “but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it. That’s the way they go.”

One day after airing his criticism of Trump’s bill, Musk leaves the White House. He thanks the president for the opportunity to run DOGE.

Trump holds a farewell event for Musk, commending his work in government but says he is “not really leaving” and will occasionally return to the White House because DOGE is his “baby.”

Musk lashes out further at Trump’s spending bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” that will explode federal budget deficits. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” Musk said on X.

The criticism quickly escalates into an all-out online brawl between Trump and Musk, with the pair trading barbs over the course of several hours.

The U.S. president threatened to pull back billions of dollars in government contracts for Musk’s companies, while the Tesla CEO suggested Trump could not have won the election without him.

“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said.