A Timeline of Elon Musk’s Disagreements With Donald Trump

Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, many have speculated how the business mogul could potentially change the social media giant’s policies, including a possible reinstatement of former President Donald Trump’s account.

On Monday, Twitter announced that they were accepting a deal from Musk to sell the social media platform for roughly $44 billion.

“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” Musk said in a statement following the purchase.

Over the past several years, Elon Musk has expressed opposition to many actions imposed by former President Donald Trump. Above, Musk’s Twitter account is displayed on the screen of an iPhone on April 26, 2022 in Paris, France. Chesnot/Getty

Despite the speculations surrounding Twitter and Trump, Musk has been vocal about his disagreements with the former president over the past few years.

While Musk has attempted to remain neutral in politics, prior to the 2016 presidential election, Musk said that he didn’t believe Trump was the “right guy,” to lead the U.S.

“I feel a bit stronger that he is probably not the right guy. He doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States,” Musk said during a 2016 interview with CNBC.

After Trump won the presidency, Musk publicly opposed a few of the former president’s decisions.

In January 2017, Musk tweeted his view on Trump’s immigration ban from mostly Muslim countries.

“The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges,” Musk wrote.

“Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US. They’ve done right, not wrong & don’t deserve to be rejected,” Musk wrote in a subsequent tweet.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO then expressed opposition to Trump’s plan to leave the Paris Climate Agreements. Following the 2016 election, Musk served on Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, which included several different CEOs who advised the president on the economy.

On May 31, 2017, Musk was asked what he would do if Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate deal, to which he responded by saying, “Will have no choice but to depart councils in that case.”

A few days later after Trump announced that he was leaving the climate deal, Musk wrote, “Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”

According to Insider, Musk also spoke about his departure from the council while speaking to several governors in 2017.

“If I stayed on the councils it would be saying that wasn’t important, but I think it’s super important,” Musk said according to Insider. “The country needs to keep its word. There’s just no way I could stay on after that.”

The council later disbanded in August 2017 as several CEOs objected to Trump’s comments about the violence that occurred during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia where one woman was killed.

In June 2020, Musk also expressed opposition to Trump’s executive order that suspended temporary work visas.

“Very much disagree with this action. In my experience, these skillsets are net job creators. Visa reform makes sense, but this is too broad,” Musk wrote on Twitter.

Newsweek reached out to Trump and Tesla for comment from Musk.