A Timeline of the Elon Musk-Donald Trump Twitter Saga

Mar. 15, 2025

Elon Musk, Donald Trump.Photo: Getty (2)

Elon Muskhas generated daily headlines since his acquisition of Twitter, raising eyebrows for both his management style and his public courtship with conspiracy theories and right-wing media personalities — chief among them, former PresidentDonald Trump, whom the Tesla co-founder welcomed back to the social media site over the weekend.

Since having his Twitter account reinstated, the former president has yet to publish any new tweets — which Musk has insinuated via graphic memes has been inspite of Trump’s own worst impulses.

But as Musk tries to win Trump back after the two sparred on social media earlier this year, critics say the tech titan’s move is little more than a desperate attempt to keep Twitter alive as it hemorrhages advertisers — and money.

Here’s a look at how the relationship between Musk, Trump and Twitter has played out.

January 2021: Trump’s Twitter Account Is Locked After Capitol Riots

The attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Samuel Corum/Getty

Trump’s account was firstlocked for 12 hourson Jan. 6, 2021, just hours after the riots began, when the platform announced it would remove three of the then-president’s tweets “for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy.”

At the time, the company warned further violations of its policies would “result in permanent suspensionof the @realDonaldTrump account.”

The company followed through days later, announcing: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

In acompany blog post, Twitter cited two of Trump’s tweets — which included a declaration that hewould not be attending Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20— as a “violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy.”

The company argued that Trump’s use of the phrase “American Patriots” in another tweet was “also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.”

May 2022: Musk Says He Would Reinstate Trump’s Twitter Account if He Acquired the Platform

Elon Musk.Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty

As Musk’s$44 billion dollar Twitter dealteetered near collapse (Musk backed out of the deal before later agreeing again to purchase the platform) he said that if his deal to acquire the social-media platform went through as planned, he would reverse thepermanent ban against Trumpthat was put in place following theriots at the U.S. Capitol.

“Permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts … I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” Musk said at FT Live’s Future of the Car conference, according to aCNBC report. “I think that was a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”

July 2022: Musk Tells Trump to ‘Sail Into the Sunset’

In July, Musk made headlines when he implored Trump to “sail into the sunset” after Trump, at a political rally in Alaska, called Musk a ‘bulls— artist."

“He said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know that,'” Trump said of Musk. “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another bull—- artist.”

July 2022: Trump Fires Back

Donald Trump.Brandon Bell/Getty

Trumpsoon fired back, writing on his own social media site Truth Social: “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it.”

Trump continued: “Now Elon should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he could owe $44 billion for something that’s perhaps worthless,” a nod to the price Musk paid for the social media site.

Just weeks after Musk’s acquisition of Twitter became official, the new CEO asked his followers to weigh in on whether Trump should be allowed back on the platform.

The poll, published Saturday, saw 51.8% of respondents vote “yes” — a number that some have suggested could have included bots.

Trump implored his own followers to vote affirmatively in the poll,linking to Musk’s tweet on Truth Social and writing, “Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!”

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“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted. (The Latin phrase at the end has been used in history as an expression of democratic ideals, meaning, “The voice of the people is the voice of God.")

Trump’s account was live shortly thereafter, but the president has yet to publish any tweets, choosing instead to continue communicating from his own social platform, Truth Social.

As theAssociated Pressreports, Musk had previously said Twitter would only restore suspended accounts after establishing a “content moderation council.”

And while Musk has wielded his power in welcoming Trump back to the platform, it’s the former president who has suggested he has the upper hand.

“I hear we’re getting a big vote to also go back on Twitter. I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it,” Trump said at a rally on Saturday. “[The company] may make it, it may not make it.”

source: people.com