Trump reportedly considers White House advisory role for Elon Musk

Donald Trump has floated a possible advisory role for the tech billionaire Elon Musk if he were to retake the White House next year, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

The two men, who once had a tense relationship, have had several phone calls a month since March as Trump looks to court powerful donors and Musk seeks an outlet for his policy ideas, the newspaper said, citing several anonymous sources familiar with their conversations.

Musk and Trump connected in March at the estate of billionaire Nelson Peltz. Since then, the two have discussed various policy issues, including immigration, which Musk has become vocal about in recent months.

“America will fall if it tries to absorb the world,” Musk tweeted in March.

Musk has said he will not donate to either presidential campaign this election, but has reportedly told Trump he plans to host gatherings to dissuade wealthy and powerful allies from supporting Joe Biden in November.

It has only been just a few years since Musk and Trump were exchanging insults. At a rally in 2022, Trump called Musk “another bullshit artist”. Meanwhile, Musk tweeted that Trump should “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset”.

Musk briefly served on Trump’s White House business advisory group early during his presidency, but Musk dropped out after Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord in 2017.

Now, relations appeared to have softened. When Musk acquired Twitter, renaming it X, in 2022, he reinstated Trump’s account. Musk has since asked Trump to be more active on X, according to the Journal, though Trump has largely been loyal to his Truth Social platform.

In March, after meeting Musk at Peltz’s estate, Trump told CNBC: “I’ve been friendly with him over the years. I