Views of Elon Musk
is a businessman and entrepreneur known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, and xAI. He is the wealthiest individual in the world, and a former U.S. government employee.
Despite rejecting the conservative label and describing himself as a political moderate, Musk's views have become increasingly right-wing over time, leading them to be characterized as far-right and libertarian authoritarian.
As the owner of Twitter, he has been accused of suppressing critics and allowing the spread of misinformation. Following his involvement in European politics, Musk’s public statements have received criticism from several world leaders. He frequently comments on topics ranging from science and technology to religion and philosophy.
Within the context of American politics, Musk voted for Democratic candidates from 2008 before switching to Republican candidates in 2022 and supporting Donald Trump in 2024, with whom he had previously feuded. He identifies as a "free speech absolutist" and has expressed support for universal basic income, gun rights, a carbon tax, and H-1B visas. Conversely, he has criticized the wealth tax, short-selling, government subsidies, and Wikipedia. Musk has voiced concern about the perceived dangers of artificial intelligence and climate change, while also opposing public transportation systems, rejecting labor unions, and promoting pronatalism.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Musk defied lockdown orders, calling them "fascist", supported the Canada convoy protest against vaccine mandates, and made several contentious epidemiological claims. He has promoted conspiracy theories and made controversial statements that have led to accusations of racism, sexism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, transphobia, and spreading misinformation and disinformation.
While describing himself as a "pro-Semite", his remarks about George Soros and Jewish communities have drawn condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and the White House under Joe Biden. An immigrant himself, Musk has blamed immigration policy for illegal immigration, been described as anti-immigration, and has promoted misleading narratives about voter fraud in the United States.
Politics and elections
Musk has been described as being closely associated with techno-libertarians, ideologically a libertarian authoritarian, and has more recently been described as far-right in regards to European politics. Having criticized and feuded with Donald Trump, Musk supported Trump for the 2024 United States presidential election as the largest financial contributor to his campaign. Soon after, by appointment of Trump, Musk was given "special government employee" status as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Describing himself as "a free speech absolutist," Musk has regularly criticized American and European immigration policies, and his views on transgender issues, women, and race, have been controversial. Musk advocates for the U.S. to withdraw from both NATO and the United Nations.United States
Before embracing Donald Trump in 2024 election cycle, Musk was known to have supported Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and even Joe Biden in 2020. In 2014, Musk described himself politically as "half Democrat, half Republican" and "somewhere in the middle, socially liberal and fiscally conservative". By 2018, he stated that he was "not a conservative" and saw himself as a "politically moderate"; he added, "Doesn't mean I'm moderate about all issues." He stated that he had "voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically" but in 2022 began supporting Republicans, with his views becoming more right-wing.2016–2020
In 2016, prompted by the emergence of artificial intelligence, Musk has voiced support for a universal basic income; he additionally backs direct democracy and has stated he thinks the government on Mars will be a direct democracy. He supported targeting an inclusive tax rate of 40%; prefers consumption taxes to income taxes; and supports the estate tax, as the "probability of progeny being equally excellent at capital allocation is not high." In an interview with The Washington Post, Musk stated he was a significant donor to Democrats and also gives heavily to Republicans. Musk further stated that political contributions are a requirement in order to have a voice in the United States federal government.File:Vice President Pence at the Kennedy Space Center.jpg|thumb|220px|Musk with Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence, May 2020|left
In 2019, Musk tweeted in support of the Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, agreeing that universal basic income was required. The following year, Musk voiced support for Kanye West's independent run for president. Musk at the time described the United States as " the greatest country that has ever existed on Earth", describing it as "the greatest force for good of any country that's ever been." Musk believes democracy would not exist any longer if not for the United States, saying that it prevented this disappearance on three occasions through its participation in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, while believing the country is not perfect and has made many mistakes.
2021–present
In 2021, in response to Texas governor Greg Abbott saying that Musk supported Texas' "social policies", Musk said he believed government "should rarely impose its will upon the people". The following year, Musk said that he could "no longer support" the Democrats, saying that "they have become the party of division & hate" and would be voting Republican due to Biden's support for unions and his inability to "get a lot done".In June 2022, Musk voted for Mayra Flores in a special election, stating it was the first time he ever voted Republican, while also considering Ron DeSantis in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In November, Musk clarified he would support DeSantis if he chose to run.
In January 2024, Musk participated in a forum with Bill Ackman and Democratic presidential primary challenger, Representative Dean Phillips regarding his presidential bid. During the forum, after hearing about the various challenges the Democratic Party presented to Phillips's campaign, Musk denounced the process of removing candidates from ballots as being "fundamentally anti-democratic". In July 2024, Musk called Kamala Harris an "extinctionist" due to comments about young people being anxious about having kids due to climate change.
Donald Trump
Musk criticized Donald Trump prior to his first presidency in 2016 and the two feuded in 2022, as well as subsequent years. In 2024 there flourished what was described by The Independent as a "rapid and intense bromance between two of the world's most powerful men." In February 2025, Musk publicly stated he loved Trump as "a straight man", before feuding again with President Trump in June.2016–2020
Before the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States in November 2016, Musk criticized Trump by saying he was "not the right guy" and did not have the "character that reflects well on the United States". Following Trump's inauguration in January 2017, Musk accepted an invitation to participate in two councils advising the president, and also criticized Trump's travel ban, regarding "citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries". In June, a few months later, he resigned from both business advisory councils in protest of Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, stating: "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world".In May 2020, amidst Musk's restarting of Tesla assembly plant production during the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump tweeted in support of Musk, which Musk publicly thanked him for. According to Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk, he reportedly did not vote in the 2020 presidential election since he believed that it was a waste of time to vote due to California being an uncontested state.
2022 feud
In July 2022, Trump referred to Musk as a "bullshit artist" and called Musk's contract with Twitter "rotten". Musk responded by describing Trump as being too old for the presidency, instead favoring Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential election. Afterwards, Trump stated on Truth Social that Musk had come to the White House requesting help with subsidized projects and that had he been asked to beg, "he would have done it"; Trump also said on Truth Social that "Now Elon should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he could owe $44 billion for something that's perhaps worthless. Also, lots of competition for electric cars!".In 2022, after Trump's Twitter suspension was reversed, Musk told Isaacson about Trump that "he's disruptive. He's the world's champion of bullshit." In 2024, New York Magazine described the feud over the past few years as "on-again, off-again".
2025 feud
A feud between Musk and Trump occurred in June 2025 following Musk's exit from the second Trump administration with his criticisms of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Musk described the bill as a "disgusting abomination" and alleged Trump had ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.2024 presidential election
In July 2024, Musk endorsed Donald Trump shortly after the attempted assassination in Pennsylvania, and it was reported that he pledged the commitment to a pro-Trump super PAC on a monthly basis, making Musk the single largest individual donor to Trump's campaign.In September 2024, following another attempted assassination of Trump, Musk received backlash after posting the now-deleted tweet: "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala". The following month, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk declared the presidential election crucial for preserving democracy, stating that Donald Trump was the only candidate capable of achieving this. Wearing a black "Make America Great Again" cap, he warned that if Trump lost, it might be the last election, marking his first appearance at a Trump event. Musk positioned Trump as a champion of free speech, and accused Democrats of threatening various rights, including the right to vote.
In December 2024, The Washington Post reported that Musk had donated $277 million to Trump and allied Republicans, making him the single largest individual political donor in the 2024 election and the largest donor since at least 2010, not counting candidates who funded their own campaigns, according to data from OpenSecrets. The Post described Musk as being referred to by some Republicans as "the Soros of the right".