When Elon Musk called Donald Trump a ‘f***ing moron’ in White House meeting

Elon Musk is today one of Donald Trump’s closest aides, biggest donors, and most outspoken supporters - but their relationship wasn’t always smooth. According to a Politico report, the Tesla billionaire reportedly called the US president a “f***ing moron” during a White House meeting in 2020.

According to the report, things got acrimonious between the two when they met to discuss the creation of a Tesla back in 2020.

Here’s what happened

In 2020, shortly before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump got to know that Elon Musk was planning to build a Tesla factory in Mexico instead of Texas. He invited Musk to the White House to discuss the issue.

A source told Politico that before the meeting, Musk called Trump a “f***ing moron” behind his back. The remark was made inside the White House.

Musk was allegedly also dismissive of the White House and its grandeur.

“We walk into the Oval, and he kind of looks around, and he’s looking around,” the source, who was present in the room at the time, said. “He’s like, ‘Gosh, I tell you. I mean, I was just in China and man, their palaces just make the White House kind of look more like an outhouse.’”

The remark reportedly left Trump “fuming” as his aides stood by, silent.

A rocky relationship

Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s relationship has been anything but straightforward, marked by public clashes and reconciliations driven by political and financial interests. In 2017, when Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords, Musk, who had been serving on three of Trump’s advisory councils, decided to distance himself. “Am departing presidential councils,” he wrote on X. “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”

Tensions flared again in 2022 when Musk, who had embarked on his controversial deal to buy Twitter, suggested it was time for Trump to “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.” Trump fired back on Truth Social, accusing Musk of hypocrisy and claiming that the billionaire had once sought his help on various government-subsidized projects.

“When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it,” Trump wrote, posting a photo of their meeting in the Oval Office.

Despite these clashes, the two have since reconciled, largely due to Musk’s significant financial contributions to the GOP during the 2024 election. The Tesla billionaire ultimately became Trump’s biggest donor, donating nearly $300 million to his campaign and emerging as one of his closest advisers.