Billionaire and onetime high White House advisor Elon Musk stated he was invited to a tech leader summit on the White House’s newly renovated Rose Garden on Thursday, but will not be attending.
“I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend. A representative of mine will be there,” Musk said on Thursday, replying to an X person who requested why the xAI, SpaceX and Tesla chief was not invited.
The visitor checklist for Thursday’s occasion consists of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in accordance to a White House official.
The incontrovertible fact that Musk was invited may very well be an indication that the connection between Musk and the White House is thawing. Once referred to as “the first buddy,” and close to fixed presence at President Donald Trump’s facet, Musk had a messy blowup with the president this summer time after leaving his place on the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk even vowed to assist major challengers of Republicans who voted for Trump’s signature funding bill, and he claimed he could be beginning a brand new political celebration, though there does not appear to have been any movement on that entrance.
The White House did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
In current days, public feedback from Trump and Vice President JD Vance appear to counsel Musk could be welcomed again into the fold.
Speaking to NCS contributor Scott Jennings on his podcast this week, Trump stated Musk is “a man of common sense,” a “good man,” though he “got off the reservation incorrectly.”
“He’s got 80% super genius and then 20% he’s got some problems. When he works out the 20%, he’ll be great,” Trump stated. “I liked him… I like him now.”
In an interview final month with far-right outlet Gateway Pundit, Vance referred to as Musk’s relationship with the Trump White House “complicated.” But he stated he expects and hopes Musk will assist the Republican Party by subsequent November’s midterm elections.
“My argument to Elon is like, you’re not going to be on the left, even if you wanted to be — and he doesn’t — they’re not going to have your back. That ship has sailed. So I really think it’s a mistake for him to try to break from the president,” Vance stated.
Musk has backed off attacking the administration on X and, in some instances, seems to be absolutely supporting the White House. Last month, he replied with a fireplace emoji and a laughing emoji to a publish from White House communications adviser Margo Martin, who captioned a photograph: “President @realDonaldTrump showing President Zelenskyy and President Macron his 4 More Years hat.”
The White House invitation is also a lesson in historical past: Musk was famously not invited to a White House summit on electrical autos in 2021 throughout President Joe Biden’s administration. (Part of the explanation appeared to be as a result of Tesla is a nonunion automaker.) Musk has been vocal about how a lot he continues to be upset over the snub.
On Thursday, he reposted a 2023 interview the place he stated Biden “added insult to injury” and harm the corporate by claiming on the occasion that General Motors was “leading the electric car revolution” whereas Tesla made much more EV vehicles.
Musk reposted the 2023 video with the remark: “I try not to start fights, but I do finish them.”
– NCS’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.