Elon Musk is no longer plotting to disrupt Donald Trump and the Republican Party and will instead return to pumping millions of dollars toward GOP candidates in the 2026 midterm elections, according to a report.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has begun donating to Republican campaigns ahead of next year’s crucial nationwide elections, in which the GOP faces an uphill battle to retain control of the House and possibly the Senate, Axios reported.
Musk’s return to the GOP marks a humiliating climbdown for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO following his explosive fallout with Trump earlier this year, when the former “first buddy” publicly turned on the president.
After first alleging that the reason files linked to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had not been released was because Trump appears in them, the tech billionaire threatened to launch a third party called “the American Party.” Musk also vowed to financially support challengers to Republican incumbents in the midterms and promised to donate to the re-election campaign of Trump’s longtime nemesis, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie.
Sources told Axios they are “near certain” Musk will not follow through on his threat to remove Republicans from office next November. Instead, he plans to act as a more traditional Republican megadonor, funneling large sums to the party’s campaign arms and allied super PACs.
Those close to Trump believe the president has largely moved on from his feud with Musk and that relations have improved, though they are unlikely to return to their former closeness.
For months, Musk was arguably the most influential person in Trump’s orbit, having pumped nearly $300 million into Trump’s 2024 White House bid. During their public falling-out over Trump’s “Big Beautiful” spending bill, Musk suggested that Trump “would have lost the election” without his financial backing.
Musk has since taken a back seat in politics, with his Department of Government Efficiency shutting down operations in November—eight months early—after producing few tangible results.
As tensions between Trump and Musk cooled, the billionaire has slowly been welcomed back into the fold. Musk attended a White House dinner last month for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and later posted on X, the social media platform he owns: “I would like to thank President Trump for all he has done for America and the world.”
Musk also reportedly dined in November with Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and longtime Trump loyalist Taylor Budowich, as the administration reportedly worked to repair relations between the president and the tech billionaire.
The Daily Beast has contacted representatives for Musk and the White House for comment.
