President Donald Trump encouraged college graduates to “break the system” while bragging that top internet executives like billionaire Elon Musk initially “hated me in my first term, and now they’re kissing my ass.”
“If you look at some of these internet people, I know so many of them, Elon is so terrific. But I know, now all of them, you know they all hated me in my first term, and now they’re kissing my ass. It’s true. All of them. It’s true,” he said to applause before graduating students at the University of Alabama Thursday night.
“It’s amazing. It’s nicer this way,” he added.
Musk became one of Trump’s most powerful advocates and closest advisers in the White House after reportedly donating $288 million towards Trump and other Republican candidates ahead of last November’s election, which was the highest amount spent by anyone.
This follows Musk dismissing Trump as “too old” to be president back in 2022 and reportedly calling Trump “a fucking moron” behind his back while touring the White House after Trump’s first win, according to Politico.
Fellow tech CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who owns Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, has also leaped closer to Trump after initially butting heads with him ahead of his second White House win.
Trump repeatedly took swings at Facebook’s establishment of third-party fact-checkers and filed a lawsuit over his social media accounts being suspended by Meta after the violent 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Meta went on to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund in December and in January it announced the abolishment of its fact-checking program and an agreement to pay Trump $25 million over his suspended accounts.
Both Musk and Zuckerberg were often seen front and center during Trump’s last inaugural events, along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
A senior Trump administration official back in January called Zuckerberg’s efforts to appease Trump “a good start,” but said more puckering up is needed.
“There is a lot more ass-kissing that needs to be done,” the official told Rolling Stone. “He just needs to prove himself. It’s a good start, but he can’t just snap his fingers and make the past not happen.”