Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have solidified their friendship once again, with the world's richest man accompanying the POTUS to Saudi Arabia.
The President has just signed a $142 billion arms agreement, and while the world's richest man wasn't the only tech bro in attendance, there were questions about why Musk has once again been allowed to get so close to the politics of the United States.
Even before Donald Trump put his foot back in the door of the White House, Elon Musk was standing firmly by his side on the campaign trail. He is said to have donated $288 to his reelection.
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Musk's closeness to the Commander-in-Chief has only increased since Trump beat Kamala Harris, with the tech billionaire being appointed as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency to try and slash $2 trillion from government spending. This has come with plenty of backlash, and as well as boycotts of Tesla, Musk has seen his net worth tumble.
His designation as a Special Government Employee means he can only work 130 days every year, but after Musk said he'd be stepping away from politics, there are questions about why he's there in Saudi Arabia.
Musk was among massive tech names, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Amazon chief Andy Jassy, with all of them said to be seeking financial support from Saudi Arabia as the country wants its own access to US tech. That's all well and good, but once again, Musk stole the spotlight.
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As well as appearing on stage to rapturous applause before President Trump delivered a speech, Musk was spotted chatting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman during a lunch held for the POTUS in Riyadh.
The Independent says that a few red MAGA hats bobbed around in the crowd at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, while Musk was accompanied by his brother, Kimbal, who sits on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX.
Also on Team Musk was Antonio Gracias, a private equity investor who is part of the DOGE.
Still, when footage of Musk and the Saudi Crown Prince circulated online, many were asking why he was there at all.
One viewer questioned: "WTF reason was Musk there? Holding the marionette strings?"
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Another added: "I thought Musky man was going to lay low or step away."
A third joked: "Oh President Musk is still around? Did he bring his kid?"
The White House has announced that the USA and Saudi Arabia will invest $600 billion in each other, with $142 billion marked for "state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen U.S. defense firms."
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s DataVolt is due to stump up $20 billion for "AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States," joined by "Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber are committing to invest $80 billion in cutting-edge transformative technologies in both countries."
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The visit conveniently coincided with the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, giving Saudi officials a chance to lobby against the POTUS' trade tariffs.
With Musk still looking like an influential presence around the White House, this won't do those 'President Musk' conspiracies any favors.