The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has awarded this Thursday the National Medal of Sciences to the magnate and founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, in an official event where both have evidenced a rapprochement after the deterioration of their relationship due to deep disagreements regarding the fiscal and spending policies promoted from the White House.
From one day to the next, Musk, whom Trump had appointed to head a "department of efficiency" aimed at cutting costs in the federal administration, was left out of the president's circle of advisors, just a few days after harshly criticizing Trump's "Great and Beautiful Tax Law," which he called an "abomination" for going against all his efforts.
Annoyed with the situation, Musk even proposed the creation of his own political party with the aim of reducing support for the Republicans. Ultimately, the businessman abandoned this idea in November of last year. Months later, at the end of September of this year, both were seen together again at a summit on artificial intelligence held at the White House.
The rivalry has been set aside at least in public this Thursday, when Trump presented the National Medal of Sciences to someone who has also been one of the main patrons of his electoral campaign, a recognition that has also been received, among others, by the founder and CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, and the president of AMD, Lisa Su.
The media focus has fallen, however, on Musk, considered the richest man on the planet. "An industrial titan, a brilliant engineer, and one of the greatest technology founders that have ever existed," Trump proclaimed during the ceremony. "His name is Elon Musk. Frankly, there is no one like him. We are very proud of you. National treasure," he added about the businessman, whom he defined as his "friend" and "a very, very special guy."
It is worth remembering that Trump needs to strengthen his funding to face the intense electoral contest that is approaching on November 3, due to the midterm elections. Polls indicate that Democrats could take control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans and gain the majority in the lower chamber of Congress, a scenario that the president himself and the Republican Party consider possible.
The concern has increased with the latest Senate polls, which give an advantage to Democratic candidates in states that at the beginning of Trump's term were considered practically safe for the current president.
To this context is added Trump's decision not to use federal funds to finance his advertising campaign and to resort, instead, to his own political action committee (PAC) to cover electoral expenses from now on, a strategy that implies a very high economic cost.