Trump Brutally Snubs Elon Musk At Inauguration & It Didn't Look Accidental

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Washington D.C.'s favorite on-again, off-again bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk had everyone wondering if sparks would fly at Trump's inauguration. But instead of a handshake or even so much as a nod, Trump left Musk completely hanging as he made his grand entrance into the U.S. Capitol on his big day. In a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, C-SPAN showed Trump entering the rotunda to fanfare as his awaiting admirers clapped, with Trump first getting a pat on the hand from likely soon-to-be Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. He then headed up the aisle to get a half-inch away from actually kissing his wife, Melania Trump (in a zoot suit hat?), before turning to shake hands with outgoing president Joe Biden, as the two remained cordial despite their heated campaign. Next was a handshake for incoming Vice President JD Vance, and then he finally turned his gaze in Musk's direction, towards the man who was once nicknamed the "First Lady" as a diss to the actual one, but was now shuffled nearly out of sight behind the towering Barron Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives at the Inauguration. pic.twitter.com/qMLRh8RuIG

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 20, 2025

Musk's eyes tell the entire story. At first playing coy and not making eye contact to see if Trump will acknowledge Musk first, he then notices that Trump is about to move on without so much as a passing glance — a power move by Trump that did not appear to be accidental. Shock settles into bewilderment as Trump turns away from Musk, who glares a pointed "really?" into the back of Trump's head as he soaks in applause, only for Musk to then shrug, grin, and pump his fists as he does his best to salvage the very public non-acknowledgement from the president that he worked so hard to get into office.

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Elon Musk emerged as a surprise ally to Donald Trump after making a u-turn with his political views. He's come a long way from the interview he gave at a Vanity Fair event in 2015, where Musk said of Trump's political future, "No, I think, like at most, he would get the the Republican nomination, and I think that would still be a bit embarrassing." Fast-forward to 2020 and Musk reportedly felt snubbed by the Biden administration, leading him to switch political sides in favor of someone who would listen a little more closely to him. With Trump eager to make powerful allies, and Musk certainly thinking the same – the two hit it off, with Musk even going so far as to miss family holidays in favor of Mar-a-Lago photo ops.

Since then, Musk has been a regular aboard the Trump train. He has appeared at rallies, where he literally jumped for joy next to the incoming president. But now there are rumors that Trump is getting annoyed with the exuberant tech titan, with Newsweek reporting that Trump even said: "Elon won't go home. I can't get rid of him—at least until I don't like him."

The words were seemingly spoken in jest, but we're starting to think that Trump was giving a pretty huge hint. So despite Trump not uttering a word to Musk at his inauguration, we're pretty sure we can read between the lines — and it looks like Trump might be telling Musk to go home.