Donald TrumpAnna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Donald Trump was back at the lectern in Michigan last night, telling his supporters that he loves Elon Musk.

This was the first joint event with his recent vice-presidential pick Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and the first campaign rally since the attempted assassination attempt at last weekend’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Trump took the opportunity to tell his supporters:

“I love Elon Musk… he endorsed me recently. He’s great.

“I read he gives me $45million a month. I talked to him a while ago, and he didn’t even mention it. Other guys give you two dollars and you got to take them to lunch.”

Trump included a quick reference to electric cars, the potential fulcrum for any future clash of interest between him and the Tesla chief. “I’m totally for them, if it’s 10%, 20% of the market, but you can’t have 100%.”

And he lavished praise on Musk’s space program, calling his rocket engine returning to Earth “the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. How long would it take government to come up with that one?”

He concluded: “We have to make life good for our smart people, and he’s as smart as you get.”

Trump is clearly relishing this kind of support from a tech titan with such a purse, although other voices were sceptical of the uniquely great relationship of which the former president boasts.

Barbra Streisand posted on X:

“Elon Musk, who has gotten rich from government subsidies and contracts, announced he was supporting Trump with a 45 million dollar a month contribution. He was joined by Silicon Valley billionaires who are libertarians and don’t want the government to build for the common good. Their only interest is money in their pockets.”

Democrat former presidential contender Pete Buttigieg told Bill Maher on his show: “These are very rich men who’ve decided to back the Republican Party who do good things for very rich men.”

Musk did endorse Trump for president last week, following the assassination attempt on the latter in Pennsylvania. But he has already debunked the $45m figure, previously responding to a social media post with “fake gnus.”