--- title: "Trump Secretly Begged Musk to Buy Failing Truth Social" description: "Last summer, Donald Trump reportedly asked Elon Musk if he would buy his failing Truth Social site — and the billionaire obviously said no." date: "2024-03-12" modified: "2024-03-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-begged-musk-truth-social" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "truth social" --- # Trump Secretly Begged Musk to Buy Failing Truth Social ![Last summer, Donald Trump reportedly asked Elon Musk if he would buy his failing Truth Social site — and the billionaire obviously said no.]() *\Image: Chip Somodevilla / Lisa O'Connor / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* ## Buyer's Remorse Elon Musk and Donald Trump apparently have a deeper bromance than anyone knew — and the former president even tried to get the owner of the site formerly known as Twitter to buy his dismal social network. As the [*Washington Post* reports]() based on insider sources, Trump made Musk an offer he was apparently easily able to refuse: to sell him Truth Social, the Don's crappy Twitter clone that he self-funded after getting kicked off the actual site in early 2021. Launched in [February 2022]() — over a year, if you recall, after the ex-president and current GOP front-runner was permabanned from Twitter for inciting a riot on January 6, 2021 — Truth Social has been hemorrhaging both [money and followers]() basically since it [first opened its gates](). According to *WaPo*'s two unnamed sources familiar with the conversation, Trump asked Musk if he was interested in buying Truth Social in the summer of 2023, which would have been less than two years after it launched. Around that same time, the app's [head of engineering resigned]() and it [nearly missed a filing deadline]() for the special-purpose acquisition company that it [ultimately merged with last month](). We don't know exactly what Musk said. But obviously, the deal didn't go through. ## Tight-Lipped It's unclear what details were discussed, and in statements to *WaPo*, neither man responded directly to any of the claims made in the article. When asked about the alleged acquisition discussion, Musk told the newspaper only that he had "never been to Mar-a-Lago," and a spokesperson for Trump was similarly opaque. "We heard Trump and Musk were actually discussing buying the *Washington Post*," Trump Media spokesperson Shannon Devine quipped, "but they decided it had no value." News of this previously unreported conversation comes after a [*New York Times* report]() last week indicating that Musk, along with some other wealthy Republican donors, [met with Trump]() in Palm Beach, Florida to discuss potential campaign donations. Following that report, which was based on information from three unnamed insider sources and also did not include much about the topics discussed during the cash-seeking summit, Musk tweeted that he is "not donating money to either candidate for US President." Nevertheless, the *NYT*'s sources indicate that Trump is still seeking a one-on-one tete-a-tete with the South African-Canadian billionaire — and God only knows what he hopes to discuss if it happens, besides the usual begging. **More on Trump:** [*Doctors Say Trump Is Displaying Clear Signs of Cognitive Issues*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()