Donald Trump awarded the National Medal of Science on Thursday to trillionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk and three other tech moguls who have financially contributed to the president’s second-term initiatives.
Trump presented the honor to Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su at the Institute of Peace in Washington.
Trump also awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft.
The ceremony marked the first time Trump has given out the medals as president. The recipients are among the wealthiest individuals in the world: All are billionaires, with the exception of Musk, who became a trillionaire in June following the initial public offering of his company SpaceX on the Nasdaq.
Musk, Dell, Brin and Huang make up four of the world’s seven wealthiest people, according to a Forbes analysis. All have contributed financially to Trump and the Republican Party’s initiatives in some form.
Musk spent millions in 2024 to send Trump back to the White House and was the largest donor to his campaign. Musk then became the face of the administration’s effort to downsize the federal government, overseeing sweeping cuts to the funding and workforce at numerous federal agencies as a special government employee.
Musk departed that role in May 2025 amid public backlash to the effort, which led to plunging Tesla sales and vandalism at some dealerships.
Trump and Musk have had a tumultuous relationship since he left. The Tesla CEO publicly called Trump’s marquee tax-and-spending bill an “abomination” that would dangerously increase the federal deficit. Trump in response claimed Musk was lashing out because the bill rolled back electric vehicle tax credits and mandates, which he claimed boosted Tesla sales.
Musk later said that Trump appeared in the Epstein files. Musk made the statement prior to the documents’ release by the Department of Justice; Trump does appear in the files, although the inclusion of his name in the files does not imply wrongdoing, which the president has denied. Musk’s insinuation prompted the president to threaten to end some $38 billion worth of government contracts held by Musk’s companies.
Musk later walked back some of his comments, and the pair were seen together following the tiff at the memorial service for conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona.
More articles
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
