Elon Musk is more than just the richest person in the world.
Like so many moments in Musk’s life, it’s a remarkable turnaround story.
2024 began with Musk briefly relinquishing his richest title, first to French luxury titan Bernard Arnault and then to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Musk’s rival in space travel.
Musk had also backed the wrong candidate. In early 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whom Musk had aligned with, abruptly ended his campaign after Trump blew him away in the Republican caucuses in Iowa. In March, in an attempt to stage his own comeback, Trump met privately with Musk to ask for his financial support. In response, Musk said his checkbook was closed.
He changed his mind and spent more than $277 million supporting Trump and the Republican party. Musk even campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania, the largest swing state.
Musk’s wealth soared after the 2024 election. His big efforts are still paying off.
Musk ended 2023 under siege. In what he later called his “dumbest” tweet ever, the billionaire promoted an anti-Semitic post. Media Matters, a liberal nonprofit, accused X of placing ads next to pro-Nazi content, accusations that caused advertisers to flee the platform.
He apologized for the post but lashed out at advertisers, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, telling them to go fuck themselves.
In late January, Musk accepted an invitation to visit the site of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Afterwards he said he had been “naive” about the Holocaust.
Musk had a prime spot to watch the Kansas City Chiefs win their second straight Super Bowl.
This was Musk’s first big game since reports surfaced that he spent the 2023 Super Bowl frustrated that President Joe Biden’s tweet got more engagement than his own. According to Platformer, Musk pressured Twitter engineers to ensure that his future posts would receive much greater exposure.
Musk’s X has become a new home for many commentators, including conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
Former CNN host Don Lemon signed a deal with the platform for similar support, but those plans were scrapped after Lemon’s interview with Musk.
Lemon, who later sued Musk, questioned the CEO’s commitment to welcoming “diverse voices” to X in the wake of the abrupt cancellation.
“His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas shared doesn’t seem to include questions from people like me,” Lemon wrote in a since-deleted post.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (left) met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing.Getty Images
Musk sent Tesla shares higher in April during a previously unannounced visit to China. According to Reuters, Tesla’s CEO was on hand to ease tensions over the automaker’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, which has long been hoped to launch in its second-largest market.
The introduction of Tesla’s technology in China remains postponed.
Musk’s ties to China are receiving renewed attention given the powerful post he will hold outside the Trump administration. Multiple Democrats in the House of Representatives accused Musk of helping to kill an initial bipartisan year-end spending budget because he included a provision that would regulate U.S. investments in China. Congress ultimately prevented a government shutdown, but the final legislation did not provide for the investment restrictions.
“This horrible creature must be expelled from Congress! Ugh…,” Musk wrote on
May: Musk welcomed Indonesia to SpaceX’s Starlink
Elon Musk signs a deal for Starlink while wearing a traditional batik shirtGetty Images
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service exploded in popularity during the year.
In May, Musk headed to the resort island of Bali to welcome Indonesia to Starlink, making it the third Southeast Asian country to receive the service.
Even bigger announcements came later in the year. In September, United Airlines announced it would launch Starlink service early next year. Several major cruise ship companies now also offer Starlink.
Starlink’s global internet traffic will more than triple by 2024, as Business Insider previously reported.
July: Musk ‘fully’ supported Trump
Musk came off the sidelines in a major way by supporting Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt. Like others in Silicon Valley, the billionaire later said he admired Trump’s courage.
With blood on his face, Trump raised his fist and shouted “Fight” as Secret Service agents escorted him from the stage to safety.
It was not entirely clear at the time, but Musk was already working to support Trump. Just a day before the shots rang out, Bloomberg News reported that Tesla’s CEO had donated to a pro-Trump super PAC.
October: Musk joined Trump on the campaign trail
Elon Musk jumps behind Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.Getty Images
Musk quickly became one of the biggest megadonors of the entire 2024 cycle. He wasn’t done trying to influence the presidential race.
In October, Musk joined Trump as the former president returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, the exact location of the July assassination attempt.
“As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m a dark MAGA,” Musk said while wearing an all-black Make American Great Again hat.
Trump’s campaign seized on Musk’s clothing and used it to fuel further fundraising.
SpaceX has shown that it can catch a rocket in mid-air
SpaceX successfully demonstrated its ability to catch a Starship rocket in mid-air SpaceX / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
It wasn’t all political. In mid-October, Musk’s SpaceX conducted its fifth test flight of its Starship rocket.
The company made history and pulled off an engineering marvel when it demonstrated the ability to capture a 70-meter-high Super Heavy booster as it descended to the launch pad.
The spectacle brought Musk’s vision of reusable rockets and therefore cheaper space travel one step closer to reality.
Musk started $1 million giveaways to voters
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million to a voterGetty Images
Musk didn’t stop donating hundreds of millions to help Trump. He hit the campaign trail and focused on Pennsylvania, widely considered the most important state for the 2024 elections.
The billionaire went even further in a controversial move, giving away $1 million to voters in swing states. The Trump ally’s lawyers later admitted that the checks were not the result of a real lottery.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit in October in an attempt to halt the efforts. Just before Election Day, a judge in Pennsylvania ruled that the checks could continue.
November: The Trump-Musk bromance simmered at Mar-a-Lago
Late on November 5, it became clear that Trump’s political comeback would be successful. Musk was at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club to watch the results unfold.
Trump thanked Musk by name in his victory speech early the next morning.
“We have a new star, a star is born,” Trump told rowdy supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, hours before the election was called in his favor. ‘Elon. He’s a great guy.’
Kai Trump, one of the president-elect’s granddaughters, went even further, calling Musk part of the family “squad” in a photo that showed more than a dozen Trumps standing next to Musk holding his son X Æ A-12 held.
Musk, Trump and some cabinet members enjoyed a night out
Elon Musk and Donald Trump talk to a UFC fighterGetty Images
Musk and Trump remained virtually inseparable after the election. The billionaire was a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago.
When the president-elect left his club, Musk often joined him. On November 16, Musk joined Trump’s sprawling entourage to watch UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump nominated to be director of national intelligence, were among those seated nearby.
December: DOGE takes over Capitol Hill
Elon Musk carries his son X-Æ-12 on his shoulders during a visit to the US Capitol.Getty Images
Musk wasted little time working on DOGE, the outside advisory panel that Musk and Ramaswamy have said will cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.
In December, Musk and Ramaswamy visited Capitol Hill to discuss their plans with Republican lawmakers. Musk even brought his son along.
Musk sent Republican lawmakers into chaos
Musk wasn’t done disrupting Washington yet.
In mid-December, House lawmakers finally reached an agreement to avoid a government shutdown just before the Christmas holidays. As is often the case, lawmakers loaded the legislation with unrelated provisions, making the bill more than 1,500 pages long.
Trump’s “First Buddy” soon joined a handful of conservative activists in encouraging an effort to kill the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who helped break the deal with Democrats in the House of Representatives, had to scrap it.
There was brief concern that Musk’s actions could lead to a government shutdown, an event he and Trump encouraged if the final deal didn’t give them what they wanted.
Ultimately, Trump did not fulfill his wish for lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling. Musk said he was pleased with the end product, which saw the deal that funded the federal government through March 14 include $100 billion in disaster relief and extend agricultural policy for another year.
Trump said Musk cannot be president
Democrats seized the opportunity to blame Musk for the death of the funding bill. Some even called him President Musk.
Musk responded by lashing out at Democrats. He said the statements on X were a ploy designed to drive a wedge between him and Trump.
Trump addressed the row just before Christmas, joking at a conservative conference that he wasn’t worried about Tesla’s CEO not being able to become president.
“No, he’s not going to be president, I can tell you that,” Trump said. ‘And I’m safe, you know why? That’s not possible, he wasn’t born in this country.’
