Friendship timeline: Why Musk and Trump could drift apart

• The two powerful men share an ego-driven temperament and view themselves as immune to the rules and norms that constrain others, as Axios' Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei report.
• Their relationship has had many ups and downs. Musk backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' failed bid in the GOP's 2024 primary, which DeSantis launched during a glitch-ridden live interview on Twitter in May 2023.

Friction point: Trump's hawkish stance toward trade with China could harm Musk's EV business, specifically Tesla's Shanghai "megafactory."

What they're saying: Differences will inevitably emerge, Sarah Kreps, professor of law and director of tech policy at the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy, told Axios.

• "We now have a situation where neither one of them has played the No. 2. We're in Trump's domain of a public sector environment, and so Musk is having to be something other than a No. 1," Kreps said.

Here's a timeline of Musk's support of Trump in 2024, leading to the X owner becoming the most powerful (unelected) man ever.

• March 6: Musk said that he won't donate to a candidate in the presidential election.
• July 13: Musk endorsed Trump on X minutes after the former president was ushered off stage by Secret Service agents at a rally in Pennsylvania after he came under fire.
• July 16: The Wall Street Journal reported that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had said he would commit around $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump super PAC called America PAC. (Musk called it fake news on X later that day.)
• Aug. 12: Musk hosted Trump on X for a "conversation" that turned into an extension of a campaign speech, where he suggested that Trump should form a commission focused on "government efficiency" and appoint him to it.
• Aug. 19: Musk posted, "I am willing to serve."
• Oct. 5: Musk appeared at a Trump rally for the first time since his endorsement, wearing a black "Make America Great Again" cap, and said: "As you can see, I'm not just MAGA — I'm dark MAGA."
• Oct. 19: Musk announced that he will give away $1 million a day to voters in swing states who have signed a petition from his America PAC to support free speech and the right to bear arms.
• Nov. 6: Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election. Musk spent election night with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

• Nov. 12: Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) operating as an independent advisory group to cut government spending and streamline bureaucracy.
• Nov. 16: Musk said in a post on X that Howard Lutnick would enact change as Treasury secretary, contrasting him with Scott Bessent, a potential Trump pick for the role, whom he called a "business-as-usual choice."
• Nov. 17: Trump's pick of Republican Brendan Carr to lead the Federal Communications Commission won Musk's approval for Carr's attacks on what he called censorship by social media platforms.
• Nov. 19: Trump did not take Musk's suggestion and instead chose Lutnick to serve as Commerce secretary.
• Nov. 19: Trump traveled to Texas to witness SpaceX's Starship launch alongside Musk.

Between the lines: Musk has shaped the political discourse on X, with users encountering his and other conservative-leaning accounts more frequently since his endorsement of Trump, a new Queensland University of Technology study finds.

The bottom line: Trump's favors are fickle. He does value loyalty and fame, just as long as that fame doesn't overshadow his own.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to attribute to the Wall Street Journal a report on July 16 (not July 12) that Musk said he'd commit about $45 million a month to the America PAC, which Musk later that day denied on X.