President Donald Trump praised Elon Musk on Thursday as he presented the SpaceX and Tesla CEO with the National Medal of Science, highlighting a renewed public relationship between the two after their highly publicized fallout last year.
Trump called Musk a “national treasure” and compared him to Thomas Edison, crediting his work with advancing U.S. scientific and technological interests.
The ceremony came more than a year after Trump and Musk publicly clashed over provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Musk had previously played a prominent role in the administration and led the Department of Government Efficiency before leaving the White House after four months. Their dispute later spilled onto social media.
Trump also honored Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and AMD CEO Lisa Su with the National Medal of Science. Dell CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella received technology medals.
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Trump’s rekindled alliance with Elon Musk on display at medal ceremony https://t.co/PNnKglOs3b
— The Hill (@thehill) October 8, 2026
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