Biden's comment that outraged Elon Musk, turning the world's richest man against Democrats and electrifying his support for Trump

Joe Biden outraged Elon Musk when he said a rival EV executive had 'electrified the entire automobile industry' in America.

When he said that about General Motors CEO Mary Barra in 2021, he gave the cold shoulder to Musk, the Tesla billionaire who most credit with the popularity of electric vehicles in the United States.

Whether he knew it or not, Biden planted a seed that day that has led Musk - a 2020 Biden voter who claimed to have never cast a ballot for Republicans - toward an alliance with Donald Trump.

Biden and Barra were attending multiple events celebrating Biden's infrastructure law and an executive order outlining a goal to have electric and other zero-emissions vehicles make up half of the new cars and trucks sold by 2030.

Musk was not invited and had to watch Barra - whose General Motors had produced just 26 EVs compared to Tesla's 115,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021 - be hailed by Biden as having 'electrified the entire automobile industry' while adding that Detroit - and not Austin, the home of Tesla - was 'leading the world in electric vehicles'. 

Now, Musk has promised to spend money on behalf of Trump and has recently launched social media attacks against the president's successor, Kamala Harris.

A new Wall Street Journal story suggests it didn't have to be this way, as Musk made multiple overtures toward Biden after he defeated Trump in 2020.

However, Biden wanted to burnish his credentials as a pro-union president and faced pressure from the United Auto Workers to avoid Musk given Tesla's anti-union practices.

'We made it clear to the administration about where things were,' said a former UAW official. 

'We didn't have to make an ultimatum. They understood.' 

Tesla and Musk were outraged by Biden showing the company the cold shoulder but Democrats as a whole seemed to be drawing Musk's ire as the Biden presidency went on. 

Musk often publicly mocked self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders and left-wing ally Elizabeth Warren, who often called for higher taxes on the wealthy and greater regulation against Big Tech.

'When Democratic lawmakers endlessly attack someone, the answer becomes 'screw you.' He's human, and when people are using you for political fodder, of course you will react in a certain way,' said former Michael Bloomberg campaign manager Bradley Tusk. 

Eventually, Musk decided to aim higher than Sanders or Warren, publicly stating his dislike of Biden in 2022 after he'd praised GM and Ford's EVs, neglecting Tesla one more time. 

'Biden is a damp [sock emoji] puppet in human form,' wrote Musk on Twitter, which he eventually bought and re-named X.

Despite some efforts by those close to Biden, Musk started to notice that the White House was coming after him, the the Federal Trade Commission and US Justice Department investigating X and Tesla.

All of these issues have snowballed into an avalanche which has led Musk to make friends with Capitol Hill's Republicans, despite Tesla benefitting from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and Musk's personal wealth growing during the Biden presidency.

He holds talks regularly with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and has formed an alliance with Congressman Jim Jordan, who has launched investigations into actions taken against Musk.

In recent years, Musk has threatened to put his money where his mouth his, despite having donated to both parties in the past.

Musk said in 2022 that he to wanted create a 'Super Moderate Super PAC' that would raise money for candidates with centrist views - regardless of their political party. 

The Tesla boss, instead, explained that he planned to start 'lower level' donations in July to the America PAC he set up to back the former president with massive cash injections.

Musk's personal donations were reported to be planned at $45 million a month, in addition to those by other deep-pocketed Trump fans.

But he belatedly denied last week's Wall Street Journal report touting the massive figure, citing people familiar with Musk's plans.

'What's been reported in the media is simply not true. I am not donating $45 million a month to Trump,' he said during a video with Jordan Peterson released this past week.

Musk later followed up on Twitter, calling the $45 million figure 'ridiculous' and explaining why he was backing Republicans.

'I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level and the key values of the PAC are supporting a meritocracy and individual freedom,' he wrote.

'Republicans are mostly, but not entirely, on the side of merit and freedom.' 

Whether the sources cited in the initial report were wrong, or Musk simply changed his mind and claimed it was never the plan, is unknown.

But the massive donation was cited by the former president, who lavished praise on Musk during a recent rally.

'I love Elon Musk,' Trump said in Michigan. 'We have to make life good for our smart people, and he's as smart as you get.' 

Musk also discussed his reasons for donating heavily to Trump and Republicans in his conversation with Peterson on Twitter, which Musk owns.

The controversial psychology professor, wearing a bizarre suit jacket printed with dozens of icons of Jesus, asked Musk about his switch to the Republicans.

'I don't prescribe to [a] cult of personality,' he said, insisting his super PAC was 'not supposed to be a sort of hyperpartisan' entity.

Musk said he believed he and the Republican Party were more closely aligned on their 'core values' than he and the Democrats.

'One of those values being meritocracy, as much meritocracy as possible, so you get ahead as a function of your skill, and nothing else,' he said. 

Musk has also become more aligned with the GOP on social issues after revealing he claimed he was 'tricked' by the 'woke mind virus' into allowing one of his sons to become a transgender woman. 

He said the PAC supported freedom from 'as much government intervention as possible' and claimed the state was more restrictive every year.

Musk said Trump showed 'great courage' after the attempt on his life at a rally on July 13, where a bullet grazed his ear.

The businessman first stated his explicit endorsement of Trump for president in the hours after the assassination attempt, though it was long suspected. 

In March, Trump met with Musk and other wealthy donors and caused such a fuss that Musk made a claim on social media afterward.

'Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President,' he said on March 6. 

In May, he also denied media reports that there had been talks over a potential advisory role for him in any Trump presidency.

On Sunday, Musk accused Harris of wanting to see the extinction of the human race.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss jumped to Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's defense as the senator received a slew of criticism for his 'childless cat lady' comments.

'Shamala is an extinctionist,' Musk wrote on his social media website X, formerly Twitter. 'The natural extension of her philosophy would be a de facto holocaust for all of humanity!'

It came in response to Vance's tweet calling out a clip of Harris claiming young people have anxiety about having children because they are worried about the future of the climate crisis.

Harris'  popularity made a massive jump in the week since she stepped up and became Democrat's presumed 2024 nominee.

The vice president's favorability sits at 43 percent – an eight point surge since last weekend, according to ABC News/Ipsos polling.

The poll released a week ago revealed that 35 percent view Harris favorability and 46 percent see her in a unfavorable light.

Biden announced last Sunday, July 20, that he was ending his reelection bid after weeks of pressure from within his party to step aside. He immediately endorsed his VP to take over.

In that same poll, voters were asked what they thought of the candidates to join Harris on the ticket and while many remain somewhat unknown, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona has the highest favorables.

Kelly, a former astronaut and wife of ex-Congressman and gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords, is viewed positively by 22 percent of respondents and negatively by just 12 percent.

While a majority either still don't know Kelly or have no opinion of the border state Democrat, he remains better liked than some of his potential VP rivals.