Elon Musk’s father has come forward to defend his son’s recent political shift and has pointed the finger at Joe Biden for influencing the close relationship between his son and President Donald Trump.
Musk, who is currently heading the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Trump administration, has faced criticism from members of the Democratic party for the amount of sway and access he holds within the president’s inner circle.
The 53-year-old tech mogul has been prominently by President Trump’s side in the weeks leading up to the election, making appearances at campaign rallies, exclusive events at Mar-a-Lago, and even sitting alongside the First Family during the Inauguration ceremony on Monday.
During his remarks to a crowd of Trump supporters at Capital One Arena, Musk was accused of making a Nazi salute.
As Musk thanked attendees, he grabbed the left side of his chest with his right hand and extended his arm at a raised angle.
He turned around and made the gesture a second time, before turning to the microphone and saying, “My heart goes out to you” as he again placed his right hand over his heart.
The Tesla founder accused his enemies of engaging in “dirty tricks” to try and smear him, “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” he wrote on X.
Errol Musk, the father of the tech titan, defended his son and called the Nazi accusation “rubbish.”
“It’s absolute nonsense. It’s absolute rubbish. Rubbish,” Errol told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo.
Errol called the gesture “universal salute” and claimed Democratic politicians, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez former President Barack Obama have done the same motion.
“As you said, he’s throwing his heart out. It’s a universal thing for thousands of years, so that’s rubbish,” he added.
“The behavior was fine. I can’t see anything wrong with that behavior.
“I’ve seen Obama and AOC using the same gesture and nobody is worried about when they make that same gesture, in fact, they react quite differently.”
Errol gleefully expressed he was “very happy” with his son’s venture into politics.
“All my children have done well in their fields, Elon to a certain extent has broken the mold,” he said.
“We’re not sort of sitting back, we would like to see more, why not. We’re very happy with him, very, very happy.”
Before aligning himself with Republicans, Musk had previously supported Democratic presidential candidates, including Obama in 2008, and both of Trump’s opponents, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
TESLA SNUB
But when asked about his son’s adopted conservative ideology and his relationship with President Trump, Errol attributed it to former President Biden snubbing Tesla from an electric vehicle event at the White House in 2021.
“He started changing when Biden invited all the electric car manufacturers to the White House in 2021 but didn’t invite Tesla,” Errol told Cuomo.
“Tesla built a million cars, and the other manufacturers built aout 26 and hadn’t even sold one.”
At the time, executives from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis attended the gathering; however, the companies had only begun their shift from gas to electric vehicles.
Tesla was the largest EV manufacturer in the world.
“Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited,” Musk wrote on X at the time.
Errol said his son was left confused why Tesla did not receive an invitation, which is when he began calling out the Biden administration online.
“Elon couldn’t understand that,” the father added.
“He started calling Biden a lunatic and the government loony. I said to him, ‘You’re making political statements. These people aren’t going to find this funny. They’ll kill you.’
“After that, he saw statements on Twitter telling him he’s a piece of this, a piece of that, and you must be deported.
“He couldn’t understand it because he always thought he was doing good things.”
Errol continued, “He’s now fully with Trump, and as he said at the election, ‘Civilization has been saved.”
Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s complicated relationship
Former president Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s relationship started rocky, but the pair have since reconciled, with Musk fully endorsing Trump and interviewing him on X Spaces on August 12.
In 2022, Elon Musk and Donald Trump publicly feuded on X, then still known as Twitter.
Trump called Musk a liar and “bulls**t artist” during a rally in Alaska.
“Elon is not going to buy Twitter,” Trump said at the time.
“You know, he said the other day, ‘I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know that – you told me you voted for me. So he’s another bulls**t artist, but he’s not going to be buying it.”
In response to Trump’s critiques, the SpaceX founder clapped back.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Musk posted.
Musk also went on to buy X months later.
The X owner said he had previously voted mostly for Democrats since becoming a United States citizen in 2002.
Musk initially backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.
“My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist,” Musk wrote on X in 2022.
“I had hoped that would [be] the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far.”
His shift in political parties might be attributed to his plummeting relationship with President Joe Biden who didn’t invite Musk to the 2021 White House electric vehicle summit.
Despite their past issues, Trump and Musk’s relationship took a turn in March after they met at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump was also previously against electric vehicles but has since changed his stance.
“I’m for electric cars,” he said at a rally earlier this month.
“I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.”
Following the assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in July, Musk announced his support for the former president.
“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk wrote on X after the shooting.
During a recent press conference, Trump spoke highly of Musk.
“I respect Elon a lot. He respects me,” he said.
“Elon, more than almost anybody I know, he loves this country. He loves the concept of this country, but like me, he says this country is in big trouble, it’s in tremendous danger.”
Musk has been pictured at events at Mar-a-Lago and the UFC, buddying up with Trump.
Trump selected Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency – a taskforce aimed at cutting bureaucracy.
