'Not a coincidence': Investor warns Trump and Musk's reconciliation is play for midterms

Spencer Hakimian, the founder of a prominent hedge fund, warned his followers on X that President Donald Trump's reconciliation with Elon Musk is no accident but a calculated strategy to fund the Republican campaign ahead of the 2026 midterms. In a separate reply, the founder of the Tolou Capital Management, who also runs a popular podcast on YouTube, accused the two of collaborating to tip the election in the GOP's favor by pumping millions of dollars into the cycle.

Hakimian was referring to a dinner Musk shared with Trump and Melania at Mar-a-Lago in January. He had earlier renewed his allegiance to the GOP, posting that America is "toast" if the radical left, a reference to Democrats, wins the midterms. How the alliance translates into midterm results remains to be seen, but the President, for his part, has already signalled where he stands, calling Musk "my friend," and dismissing Musk's outburst as him having a "bad moment", at a farmers' roundtable in Wisconsin last week.

The reconciliation between Trump and Musk is less a personal story than a political one. The two had a much-publicised feud in 2025, after which Musk resigned from his role as a special adviser over differences on Trump's budget bill. Having spent hundreds of millions to propel Trump into the White House in 2024 — and with his grip on X — Musk remains one of the most powerful midterm assets in Republican politics. The timing, Hakimian argues, suggests the feud was a detour, not a break.

The bonhomie between the two took root after an assassination attempt on Trump during the 2024 reelection campaign, with Musk appearing alongside him at several rallies. When Trump returned to the White House, Musk was rewarded with the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The friendship frayed, however, when Trump pressed ahead with his "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a piece of legislation Musk publicly called a "disgusting abomination."

The clash reached a tipping point, with Musk accusing Trump of being ungrateful, agreeing with a call for his impeachment, and even claiming that Trump is in the Epstein files. Trump responded by saying that he was disappointed with Musk and threatened to "terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts." Musk floated the idea of pumping his billions into an "America Party" to break the two-party hold on American politics. Vice President J.D. Vance then persuaded Musk to abandon the plan, The Wall Street Journal reported.