As more than 100,000 mourners packed an Arizona stadium for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, one moment stood out – Donald Trump and Elon Musk reuniting for what could be the end of the pair’s fiery public feud.
Footage of the moment showed the tech billionaire approaching the US President and sitting in an empty seat beside him at the stadium in Glendale, before the pair shook hands and had a chat.
The public reconciliation indicates that the powerful duo see mutual benefit in working together – but the relationship is likely to remain volatile, experts believe.
Asked about the encounter, Trump said: “Well, Elon came over and said hello.
“I thought it was nice that he came over. Had a little conversation.
“We had a good relationship, but it was nice that he came over.”
Musk, a former special adviser to the US President, shared a photograph of the meeting in a post on X, accompanied by the caption: “For Charlie.”
The White House followed suit, sharing a separate image of the meeting on the social media platform, which is owned by Musk, with the same caption.
Trump and Musk’s public fallout began after the end of the tech billionaire’s tenure as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which slashed the US federal workforce and agencies in a bid to reduce “waste”.
The feud broke out in June, when Musk took to X to condemn Trump’s flagship tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination“.
Days later, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Musk over his repeated criticisms of the bill, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”
As the fallout spiralled, Musk accused Trump of appearing in files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying that is the “real reason they have not been made public” in a now-deleted post on X.
Trump said Musk has “lost his mind” and in July claimed he would “take a look” at the prospect of deporting the Tesla owner, who is originally from South Africa.
Maria Ryan, associate professor of American history at the University of Nottingham, said “the handshake was a sign of a possible rapprochement between Musk and Trump” but as both have “giant egos, a volatile relationship is always likely”.
She told The i Paper that “two things may have brought them together again. Firstly, the killing of Charlie Kirk and the glorification of him as a free speech martyr by the right has probably reminded Musk that he and Trump share a common enemy: the left.
“Musk’s own amplification of right-wing voices on his X platform is in tune with Trump’s attempts to stifle and repress liberal commentary on the Kirk murder.”
Angelia Wilson, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, agreed that the relationship was about mutual gain.
She said: “Both men are pragmatists and focused on doing what is needed to achieve their individual goals. Since the 1970s, the US right has used the term ‘co-belligerent’ to describe the practical need to work together on particular issues of mutual benefit, despite fundamental differences on others.”
Trump, left, Musk, centre, and House Speaker Mike Johnson at the memorial for Kirk (Photo: AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Ryan said the second reason Musk might be seeking to make amends with Trump is to influence his immigration policy, after his administration announced a “massive, unprecedented increase in the cost of H-1B foreign worker visas for employers from $780 to $100,000”.
She said: “The tech industry is very reliant on these. It recruits highly skilled and specialised workers from all over the world using these visas. Musk strongly disagrees with Trump’s approach to the visa issue because his own companies will be hit hard by these costs.”
Musk has been a fierce critic of reforms to make it harder to secure the visa. In December, he wrote on X: “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B.”
He added: “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
Professor Ryan described H1-B reforms as a “significant fissure in the Maga movement”.
She added: “Many businesses, especially in Silicon Valley, want to be able to recruit globally, whereas Trump wants them to hire American and is hostile to immigration. Musk may well now believe that the best way to influence Trump on the visa issue is to be closer to him again so that he has the President’s ear and can give a business perspective on the visa issue and perhaps influence the rollout of the new H-1B programme.
“That said, the relationship between the two is always likely to be volatile because they are both very strong personalities.”
Suspicion lingers
“Trump and Musk will always have a relationship of mutual suspicion,” Mark Shanahan, associate professor of political engagement at the University of Surrey, told The i Paper.
“Neither can trust the other and both know that. However, they can have a relationship based on utility. In the past, Musk was crucial to Trump’s electoral victory through his manipulation of X, while Musk gained access to the inner offices of government through Trump’s largesse.
“If Musk can be useful to Trump in the future he will be allowed back into the Trumpist project – as long as he remembers who’s the president.”
Asked what both parties have to gain from a closer relationship, he added: “Trump is driven by money which he gets through political power. Musk already has more money than most can conceive and wants to use it to gain power. Both are outsiders and understand they can buy fealty from those around them.
POTUS x @ElonMusk For Charlie. pic.twitter.com/Inaf8X81Gy
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 22, 2025“If Musk helps Trump to generate even more wealth and Trump’s good offices can give Musk access to more opportunities for business and technological control, then a future symbiotic relationship may suit them. However, both have massive egos and thin skin, so the relationship will always be fraught and under threat.”
But Richard Johnson, senior lecturer in US politics and policy at Queen Mary University of London, said he did not believe Musk and Trump’s relationship would be plagued by mutual suspicion. He explained that “Trump has shown himself able to make amends with people who have said very hostile things about him”.
He pointed to the example of US Vice President JD Vance, who prior to his tenure described Trump as an “idiot” and “reprehensible”, while reportedly comparing him to Adolf Hitler in private text messages in 2016.
“The psychological security that Trump has is that he is equally prepared to drop someone should they cross him further down the line.”
Trump “doesn’t see people as permanent friends or a permanent enemy”, but as means to assist in achieving his “permanent interests”, Johnson added.
Citing the Lord’s Prayer in a post on X after Kirk’s memorial event, Musk said: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.
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square US POLITICS AnalysisCharlie Kirk's memorial revealed the radical direction of Trump's Republican Party
Read MoreIn a second apparent religious reference during the event, Musk told reporters Kirk was killed because “he was showing people the light, and he was killed by the dark”.
Asked about the significance of Musk’s religious connotations, Angelia Wilson, of the University of Manchester, said religious language, “particularly that of mainstream Protestant Christianity, has become the in-house, corporate, social responsibility language of the Republican Party”.
She added: “Religious ‘dog whistles’ have been a part of Republican Party speech writing for over 50 years.
“Every politician and leading figure on the right knows that success depends on this linguistic fluency and a currency to communicate with and motivate constituents. The Kirk event this weekend was largely a performance to reassure constituents that ‘the faith community’ remains a part of the Maga agenda.”
Musk was “playing the language game in order to communicate to this constituency”, according to Wilson, whose recent book, The Politics of Hate, explores how the Christian right has used a “theological justification” to fuel political polarisation in the US.
Her remarks were backed by Shanahan, who said: “For both, religion is a tool they use – it’s good for other people and they’ll occasionally mouth the right words.
“However, the Bible is no more than a convenience to connect them to the devout evangelical core of Maga.”
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