Elon Musk meets Trump as ex-president seems to spice up his battle chest

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Donald Trump reportedly met with billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk as he seems to safe additional donors for his 2024 presidential bid.

The assembly between the previous president and the Tesla boss, the second richest particular person on earth in line with Bloomberg, and different Republican donors, occurred on Sunday in Palm Seaside, Florida.

Three sources with data of the assembly confirmed particulars to The New York Instances.

It comes as Mr Trump was on the lookout for a clear sweep of victories on Tremendous Tuesday which might edge him nearer to a rematch for the Oval Workplace with Joe Biden on 5 November.

In accordance with the New York Instances, the previous president and his workforce are working to search out further main donors to shore up his funds as he heads into an anticipated basic election towards Mr Biden.

It isn’t but clear whether or not Mr Musk plans to spend any cash supporting Mr Trump, although his current social media posts recommend he thinks that Mr Biden’s time in workplace ought to come to an finish.

The New York Instances reported that folks near the tech boss confirmed that that is his private view.

With a hefty unfold of authorized points nonetheless ongoing, and following a current nice of over $450m, Mr Trump is at present at a monetary drawback to Mr Biden and his associates.

Mr Musk has lengthy portrayed himself as “independent-minded” and a proponent of free speech – particularly along with his acquisition of social media platform X, previously Twitter – and, like many enterprise leaders, has donated to candidates from each events over time.

Nevertheless, not like different US billionaires, he has not spent closely on a presidential election, and his donations have been pretty evenly break up over time between Democrats and Republicans.

His companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have benefited from federal authorities contracts and subsidies.

The connection between Mr Trump and Mr Musk has additionally seen its ups and downs, with the latter stepping away from two enterprise advisory councils following Mr Trump’s resolution to drag out of the Paris local weather settlement.

“Local weather change is actual,” Mr Musk posted on Twitter in June 2017. “Leaving Paris isn’t good for America or the world.” The 2 have had different moments of friction.

However Mr Musk has change into extra open about his choice for the Republican Get together.

After shopping for Twitter in October 2022, Mr Musk reinstated Mr Trump’s account. The previous president had been barred from the platform after the January 6 assault on the Capitol – a call that Mr Musk had beforehand advised was a mistake.

As well as the tech boss has railed towards what he describes because the left’s “woke” agenda and has attacked Mr Biden over the document variety of migrants who’ve entered the USA throughout his presidency, typically on X.

His feedback about immigration have grown more and more alarmist, with posts showing to recommend that Democrats are “ushering in huge numbers of illegals” to cheat in elections. There isn’t any proof to help his declare of mass voter fraud.

“America will fall if it tries to soak up the world,” Mr Musk posted on X on Tuesday. Earlier within the day, he posted that the Biden administration’s immigration insurance policies amounted to “treason.”