‘For Charlie’: Trump, Musk reunite months after a public fallout at Kirk’s funeral service

US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk met for the first time since their public fall-out at rightwing activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona. On Sunday, top Republicans, conservatives and thousands of rightwing supporters gathered in Glendale, Arizona, to pay homage to Kirk.

The 31-year-old staunch ally of Trump was assassinated on September 10 while he was addressing a rally at a university in Utah. Before Trump took the stage to address the crowd, Musk approached the president and sat next to him. The two were seen shaking hands and chatting for a while.

Musk eventually shared the picture of the two on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption “For Charlie”. What made the meeting significant was that it was the first time Trump and Musk came face-to-face since June, when they had a public feud over Trump’s controversial ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.

POTUS x @ElonMusk

For Charlie. pic.twitter.com/Inaf8X81Gy

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 22, 2025

The infamous feud

While Trump’s controversial bill was moving through Congress, Musk was trashing it, stating that the legislation would add to the US debt and end tax incentives for electric vehicles and solar energy modules, which Tesla sells. By June, the displeasure between the two was so intense that it reached a tipping point.

The feud escalated in public and especially online when Musk suggested that Trump should be impeached. He took credit for Trump’s election victory and said his tariffs would cause a recession later this year. The Tesla CEO also alleged that Trump was in Jeffrey Epstein’s files and said he would take his SpaceX rockets, which the federal government increasingly relies on, out of service.

In response, Trump threatened to turn Musk’s own Department of Government Efficiency on the tech billionaire’s companies and look into any subsidies they received. While Musk attempted to de-escalate the situation, Trump suggested that their relationship was over.

In an interview with NBC News, when the president was asked if he had any desire to mend his relationship with Musk, Trump simply replied “No”. And when pressed if he thinks his relationship with Musk is over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.” Trump at that time made it clear that he had “no intention of speaking” to Musk anytime soon, saying: “I’m too busy doing other things,” and accused Musk of disrespecting the presidency.

Interestingly, it was Kirk who predicted earlier this year that Musk and Trump would eventually reconcile, saying, “they’re much stronger together.” Meanwhile, at the Sunday service, Kirk’s wife, Erika, delivered a message of forgiveness, saying she even forgives the shooter who killed her husband.

Trump, in his speech, praised Erika’s “noble spirit” but admitted he couldn’t be the same. “I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump said. “I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika, but now Erika can talk to me and the whole group, and maybe they can convince me that that’s not right, but I can’t stand my opponent.”