Fact Check: Musk Once Said Trump Would Be 'Too Old' at End of 2nd Term To Be President?

Claim:

Elon Musk once said: "Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America."

Rating:

Correct Attribution ( About this rating? )

Context:

Musk did say this on X in July 2022, but it was only one half of his post. The second half read: "If [Ron] DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn’t even need to campaign."

As former U.S. President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk prepared to chat live on X Live, the campaign account of Vice President Kamala Harris — Trump's opponent in the 2024 presidential election — posted a screenshot purportedly showing one of Musk's old posts ( archived ):

The Tesla founder's alleged X post read: "Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America."

Harris' campaign appeared to be pointing out that this supposed post contradicted Musk's recent endorsement of the former president. One month prior to their live chat, the X owner announced he backed Trump on the day the Republican nominee survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania ( archived ):

Musk did indeed post the quote on July 12, 2022, which is why we rated this claim "Correct Attribution." However, it required more context.

The original post read as follows ( archived ): "Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America. If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn't even need to campaign."

That same day, Musk posted various arguments for not supporting Trump ( archived and archived ):

Snopes has regularly addressed social media posts about Musk and Trump in the build-up to the 2024 presidential election .

Sources:

'DeSantis Drops out of Presidential Race, Leaving Trump and Haley to Face off in New Hampshire'. AP News, 21 Jan. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-250c8ed4b49843350e258f0c2754c8ba .

Gibson, Brittany. 'Trump's Interview with Musk Devolves into yet Another X Catastrophe'. Politico, 12 Aug. 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/12/trump-musk-x-interview-problems-00173739 .

Hardinges, Nick. 'Elon Musk Agreed to Host Presidential Debate Between Biden, Trump and RFK Jr.?' Snopes, 23 May 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/musk-debate-biden-trump-rfk/ .

'Here's How Elon Musk Became a Ron DeSantis Supporter'. Tampa Bay Times, https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/05/24/desantis-elon-musk-twitter-spaces-endorsement-president-2024/ . Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.

Ibrahim, Nur. 'Elon Musk Said X Users Who Use "Weird" to Describe Trump Supporters "Will Be Punished"?' Snopes, 31 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/elon-musk-x-weird-trump-punished/ .

Izzo, Jack. 'Elon Musk Could Donate $45M Per Month to Trump Campaign for 462 Years?' Snopes, 22 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/elon-musk-45-million-trump/ .

'Ron DeSantis Will Launch His 2024 Bid on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk'. NBC News, 23 May 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/ron-desantis-presidential-bid-campaign-elon-musk-rcna85288 .

Trump Assassination Attempt Articles | Snopes.Com. https://www.snopes.com/tag/trump_assassination_attempt/ . Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.

'X.Com'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1823144316014911820 . Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.