Former President Trump and his allies at the Republican National Committee hope to persuade Tesla and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Chief Executive Elon Musk will speak at the Republican convention in July, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Republican leaders believe giving Musk a chance to speak at the convention could lead some of his fans to support the party’s agenda. Historical lag A source familiar with the conviction said support among young voters was high on Election Day.
Trump is expected to be confirmed as the Republican presidential nominee at an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, setting up a repeat of the 2020 race against President Joe Biden in this November’s election.
Musk’s potential speaker role revealed after he gave speech It is said met with Trump and a group of wealthy Republican donors over the weekend in Palm Beach, Florida. It’s unclear whether Trump or his allies raised the idea with Musk.
The talks come just days before the former president’s landslide victory in the Super Tuesday primaries, which led to his last major challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, withdrawing from the nomination competition.
People who spoke to CNBC requested anonymity to describe private conversations.
If Musk, who also owns social media site
Musk’s longtime financial backer and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel expressed a similar purpose when speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention, which first nominated Trump for president.
A person familiar with the matter noted that RNC leadership has discussed wanting Musk to speak at the convention with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who resigned on Friday during the committee’s Houston meeting.
New Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley is likely to favor inviting Musk to speak, sources said, as will new RNC co-chair Laura Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law.
Representatives for Trump and the Republican National Committee did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
It remains to be seen whether the RNC will invite Musk or if he will be willing to attend the convention.
Musk, whose net worth is reportedly close to $200 billion, said this week that he had no plans to donate to the Trump or Biden campaigns.
But a person familiar with last weekend’s Florida meeting said some Trump advisers hope Musk will start supporting the Republican candidate.
Musk has not publicly ruled out donating to pro-Trump political action committees or nonprofits that support the former president’s policies.
Musk has previously expressed support for the Republican presidential candidacy of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended his campaign after losing the primary to Trump.
Musk also hosted a event Last year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is seeking the White House as an independent candidate, posted on Twitter.
Musk did not endorse Trump in the Republican’s two previous campaigns (2016 and 2020).
And the two have clashed in the past.
In June 2017, Musk abandoned the Trump White House Advisory Council, citing the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
In July 2022, Trump blasted the billionaire for saying he had never voted for a Republican before voting for the Republican candidate in a Texas House special election earlier that year.
“He said one day, ‘Oh, I never voted Republican,'” Trump said at that rally. “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another bull—an artist.”
Within days, Musk tweeted: “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and ride off into the sunset. It’s time for the Democrats to call off the attack too — don’t let it become a threat to Trump’s survival. The only way.” is to regain the presidency. “
Although Musk continues to describe himself as a “moderate,” his public political comments have veered to the right over the years.
His social and political comments in X posts have become more exaggerated since late 2022, when he led a leveraged buyout of the social media company, then known as Twitter.
Earlier in 2022, Musk said he would vote for the Republicans rather than the Democrats in that year’s congressional midterm elections.
On Tuesday, as voters across the United States cast their ballots in presidential primaries, Musk baselessly accused Biden of “treason” in a series of tweets while slamming him for his handling of U.S. immigration.
When Musk took over prohibit.
The riot disrupted for several hours a joint session of Congress that was meeting to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Trump, who later founded his own social media company, Truth Social, had previously said he would not return to X even if Musk lifted the ban.
Trump made an exception to that vow last summer when he released photos of himself taken in jail after being charged with criminal charges in Georgia for trying to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
The post linked to Trump’s campaign website, which allows people to donate to his reelection efforts and to a political action committee that pays for his mounting legal bills
Thiel, a former Facebook board member, said: atlantic organization Last fall, he had no plans to financially support any republican party candidates, including Trump.
Thiel also said in that interview that President Trump’s administration from January 2017 to January 2021 was “crazier” and “more dangerous” than I imagined.
“They can’t make the most basic parts of government work,” Thiel told the outlet. “So, I think that part was probably worse than my low expectations.”
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