In late May, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was done with political spending for the time being — a statement that came on the heels of a brutal public war with President Donald Trump over his budget reconciliation bill and after he dumped $290 million into the 2024 election.
Just a month later, however, Musk continued to fund Trump and Republicans to the tune of millions of dollars, Politico reported Friday.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said back in May, speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum. “I think I’ve done enough. If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it; I don’t currently see a reason.”
As Trump’s single-largest financial backer in the 2024 election, Musk had been in the president’s good graces during the early months of his second term, having been appointed to lead the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency. That all came crashing down, however, after Musk railed against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act over its impact on the federal deficit, stepping down from his role at the White House just days later.
In mid-July, Musk’s feud with Trump heated up after the tech billionaire accused the president of being in the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, alleged to have run a sex-trafficking and blackmail operation targeting powerful figures.
And yet, just days after that, Musk gave $5 million to Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., and $10 million to help Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate, Politico found. Just a week later, Musk announced the launch of his own political party, dubbed the “America Party.”