Elon Musk has once again dropped a passive-aggressive comment on his MAGA friend Donald Trump, telling Joe Rogan that the US president is “not perfect” but “not evil,” describing GOP leader as a “product of his time.” The billionaire CEO made the remarks during a three-hour interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, where he took a moment back and recalled his rollercoaster of a friendship with Trump. He seemingly defended parts of Trump’s political record.“Some people still think, you know, Trump is like the devil, basically,” Musk said. “And, I mean, I think, I think Trump actually is not perfect, but, but he’s not evil. Trump is not evil. I spent a lot of time with, with him, and he’s, I mean, he’s a product of his time, but he is not, he’s not evil.”The Tesla and SpaceX boss insisted that the media exaggerates Trump’s flaws and treats him unfairly. “The media treats him like he’s super evil,” Musk told Rogan, who agreed that news coverage of the president was “pretty shocking.” Rogan added, “I don’t think he’s evil either, but if you look at the media coverage—” before Musk cut in to continue his criticism of the press.
The big beautiful breakup
The conversation showed Musk’s swaying towards the right-wing despite his fallout with Trump earlier this year. Both men were once close allies, but had a dramatic public breakup in June after Musk accused Trump of blocking the release of the Epstein files because his own name appeared in them. The accusation triggered a furious response from the president, who retaliated by threatening to cancel federal contracts with Musk’s companies.Their feud had followed months of tension. In May, Musk criticised Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” a major spending package he claimed would worsen the national deficit. The dispute came after Musk’s government-backed project, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), collapsed.Musk had once played a key role in helping Trump reclaim political dominance during the second MAGA wave, using his social media platform X and his wealth to amplify Trump’s message. The two men appear to have reconciled in recent weeks. They reunited at a vigil for the slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. This week, Musk’s companies received a $2 billion government contract from the White House.
A common stance on border policies
During the Rogan interview, Musk also defended Trump’s immigration policies, arguing that strong border enforcement was essential to preserve fair elections. “If Trump had lost, there would never have been another real election again, because Trump is actually enforcing the border,” he claimed. Musk acknowledged that immigration enforcement could sometimes be “overzealous” but argued that “perfection is impossible.”He added, “Now, you cannot point to situations where there’s been, you know, immigration, you know, enforcement has been overzealous, because they are not going to be perfect. There will be cases where they’ve been overzealous in expelling illegals. But if you say that the standard must be perfection for expelling legals, then you will not get any expulsion, because perfection is impossible.”
