Donald Trump, who is urgently seeking cash infusions to support his presidential campaign, met with Elon Musk, one of the world's richest men, and several wealthy Republican donors on Sunday, March 3, in Palm Beach, Florida, according to three people , briefed on the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion.

The New York Times writes about it. 

Trump is looking for money: how Musk will act

Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he prepares for the expected general election against President Biden.

Trump has praised Musk to allies and hopes to meet the billionaire face-to-face soon, according to a person who has discussed the matter with Trump.

It is currently unclear whether Musk plans to spend some of his fortune on Trump's behalf.

But his recent social media posts suggest he thinks it's vital that Biden is defeated in November — and people who have spoken privately with Musk have confirmed that's indeed his view.

With a fortune of about $200 billion, according to Forbes, Musk could choose to support Trump and potentially, almost single-handedly, destroy the huge financial advantage that Biden and his allies have over the former president.

What is Trump's relationship with Musk?

Musk has long positioned himself as an independent politician, and like many business leaders, he has donated to candidates from both parties over the years.

Unlike other American billionaires, he has not spent much money on presidential elections, and his donations over the years have been fairly evenly distributed between Democrats and Republicans.

Musk's companies, Tesla and SpaceX, received contracts and subsidies from the federal government.

A person close to Musk said his relationship with the government has historically made him wary of identifying too closely with one political party over another.

In 2017, the billionaire famously stepped down from two business advisory boards while Trump was president over Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

“Climate change is real,” Musk tweeted in June 2017.

"Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."

Am departing presidential councils.

Climate change is real.

Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

They had other troubles in their relationship.

A few months before the midterm elections, in the summer of 2022, he and the former president exchanged insults: Trump called him an obscenity, and Musk said that it was time for the former president to "sail off into the sunset."

Musk vs. Biden?

At the same time, however, Musk has become increasingly open about his commitment to the Republican Party.

Ahead of the midterm elections, he told his more than 100 million followers on X — the website that was called Twitter until Musk bought it in 2022 — that they should vote for a Republican Congress.

He criticized Biden for the record number of migrants entering the United States during his presidency.

Musk's comments on immigration are becoming increasingly troubling.

He suggested that the president's immigration policies threatened the very existence of America and pushed American democracy to the brink.

He suggested that the Democrats are "recruiting a huge number of illegals" for election fraud.

There is no evidence to support his claims of massive election fraud.

"America will fall if it tries to swallow the world," Musk wrote on Tuesday, March 5, on X. Earlier in the day, he wrote that the Biden administration's immigration policies were "treasonous."

America will fall if it tries to absorb the world.

That is why I am banging the drum so much about this issue.

https://t.co/9MrkJghzx9

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2024

A person close to Musk, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if he were to support Trump, his views on immigration would be a strong motivator.

Musk has previously raised questions about Biden's age and once repeated one of Trump's favorite jokes, saying the president was "still asleep" after Biden failed to congratulate one of his companies.

Musk also has a grudge against the president after the White House did not invite Tesla to an electric car event in August 2021.

"Let's not forget that the White House pushed Tesla away by excluding us from the EV Summit," Tesla CEO Musk wrote in a post on X in December.

Let's not forget the White House giving Tesla the cold shoulder, excluding us from the EV summit and crediting GM with “leading the electric car revolution” in the same quarter that they delivered 26 electric cars (not a typo) and Tesla delivered 300 thousand.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2023

According to NBC News, which obtained visitor logs, Musk visited the White House in September to discuss issues related to artificial intelligence.

During the visit, Biden and Musk did not meet.

After buying Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk reinstated Trump's account.

The former president was banned from the platform after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a decision that Musk previously said was wrong.

However, it was far from obvious that Musk would support Trump's presidential campaign.

Even before the start of the Republican elections, Musk said that he was leaning towards supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis made his official candidacy during a live audio discussion with Musk on X TV last May, and it was widely speculated that a donation from Musk to support DeSantis in the pro-Trump super committee would follow.

But this never happened.

On Monday, Musk appeared to criticize TV host Bill Maher, who said in a video posted on X that he would have voted for Biden over Trump under any circumstances.

"Trump Insanity Syndrome (TBS) is a very real disease," Musk wrote in response to X.

Even if Musk doesn't ultimately decide to donate to a pro-Trump super fund or spend money in some other way to help Trump, his own megaphone matters a lot.

Musk has 175 million followers on X and has the ability to shape news coverage like few others in America.