Musk Says He Won't Donate To A Presidential Candidate

Elon Musk posted on X Wednesday that he won’t be “donating money to either candidate” for president, a day after The New York Times reported the Tesla CEO met with Donald Trump in Florida.

Musk visited Trump over the weekend, the Times first reported, as the former president looks for financial support as his legal bills continue to rise. The Wall Street Journal confirmed the visit on Wednesday.

Even if Musk doesn't donate directly to a candidate, there are other ways for him give financial support to a campaign. He could donate to a super PAC, which can accept and spend unlimited amounts of money, for example, or to a “dark money” group that doesn’t report its donors because of its nonprofit status. In fact, given Musk’s nearly $200 billion net worth, those avenues could prove more useful to him because he could contribute more cash than by giving directly to campaigns, which are subject to contribution limits.

Musk’s public political stance has shifted over time. He has said he voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the past, but in recent years has been an outspoken critic of Biden.

In May 2022, he wrote on X that the Democratic Party had become “the party of division & hate” and that he would vote for GOP candidates. Most recently, he blamed Biden and his policies for causing a "flood" of illegal immigration.

Musk has also shown some sympathy toward Trump and his legal troubles — asking on X last month "Do they prosecute anyone besides Trump in NY?" — and reinstated Trump's account when he took over Twitter in 2022.

The comment comes the day after Trump and Biden romped across the Super Tuesday map, easily wiping out their closest challengers and marching to the precipice of their respective nominations.