Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk “has grown enamored” with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and may soon make a major donation to support his campaign, Puck News reported Tuesday.
Musk reportedly attended a Ramaswamy fundraiser on Sept. 29—about one month after the 38-year-old candidate said he’d pick Musk to be an adviser in the White House if he wins the 2024 election.
“I’ve enjoyed getting to know better, Elon Musk recently, I expect him to be an interesting adviser of mine because he laid off 75% of the employees at Twitter,” Ramaswamy said on Aug. 26.
Musk, who has not made a political contribution since 2021, has not officially endorsed a presidential candidate, though he did align himself with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) early on.
DeSantis kicked off his campaign in May alongside Musk on the latter’s social media platform, X, Musk and said last June that he was leaning toward voting for DeSantis.
He said in June 2022 that he didn’t hate former President Donald Trump but that it’s time for him “to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” adding in a subsequent post that he thinks “the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69.”
“Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk said. “If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win—he doesn’t even need to campaign.”
Since launching his campaign, DeSantis has slipped in national polls from roughly 20% support among Republican primary voters on average to 13% currently. He remains Trump’s top primary contender, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at 8% and Ramaswamy at just under 5%, according to RealClearPolitics’ polling average.
It appears that Ramaswamy, who experienced an uptick in the polls after announcing his bid, is growing on Musk.
The two entrepreneurs held an X Spaces conversation on Monday to discuss Israel, Hamas, and the possibility of World War III.
And Musk previously described Ramaswamy as a “very promising candidate” in response to his August interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
In two other posts in August, Musk said Ramaswamy “is increasingly compelling” and “increasingly looking like a strong candidate.” That same week, he wrote in support of the idea of Ramaswamy becoming vice president.
“Vivek is saying interesting things,” he said on Sept. 27, ahead of the fundraiser he reportedly attended.
On Musk’s own platform, the partnership was dunked on, as people noted some of the more unpleasant similarities between the two.
“oh, this makes total sense because Elon Musk is a deeply stupid person,” wrote one user.
“Of course. Both are huge narcissists that think they are smarter than everyone else,” said another.
Since his surge in the polls after the GOP debates, Ramaswamy has come back to Earth. It’s unclear if an infusion of cash from Musk will change his fortunes.
