As tensions flare between Elon Musk and Trump’s MAGA allies, President-elect Donald Trump posted what appeared to be a personal message to Musk on Truth Social, claiming that fellow billionaire Bill Gates asked to come to Mar-a-Lago.
In an early morning post on Friday, Trump suggested the Microsoft co-founder had asked to come to Mar-a-Lago. The 78-year-old Republican encouraged him to visit.
“Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!!” Trump wrote. He signed it “DJT.”
It’s not immediately clear whether Gates would visit Trump at his Florida estate. The Independent has reached out to a representative for Gates for comment.
Gates, whose net worth Forbes estimated to be more than $104 billion, reportedly first met with Trump in December 2016 after he clinched his first presidential election. He congratulated Trump after he won again in November.
Trump has met with a handful of billionaires in recent weeks at Mar-a-Lago, including Amazon founderJeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!” Trump boasted on Truth Social after dining with Bezos.
The “X” mentioned in the post appears to be a reference to the Space X founder’s son, X Æ A-Xii, whom Musk calls X for short, CNN reported.
The strange public note comes as Musk, Trump’s “best buddy”, has been clashing online with other close Trump allies over the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who together will head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency office, have defended the visas while Laura Loomer and others have criticized it.
On Thursday, the feud escalated to a new level when Loomer accused Musk of removing her blue checkmark on X, the social media platform he owns, “because I dared to question his support for H1B visas, the replacement of American tech workers by Indian immigrants, and I questioned his relationship with China,” she wrote in a post.
She continued: “Donald Trump promised to remove the H1B visa program and I support his policy. Now, as one of Trump’s biggest supporters, I’m having my free speech silenced by a tech billionaire for simply questioning the tech oligarchy.”
