Charlie Kirk desperately wanted Elon Musk and Donald Trump back together. He succeeded

By Hadas Gold, CNN

(CNN) — When Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s feud reached a fever pitch, Charlie Kirk desperately wanted the two to put their fight to bed and make up.

“I know both these guys … I am hopeful, optimistic and will do everything I possibly can to try and bring this back together,” Kirk told Megyn Kelly in June, adding that he expected them to make up.

In the end, Kirk succeeded, bringing Trump and Musk together publicly for the first time since their epic blowup.

At Kirk’s memorial service in Phoenix on Sunday, Musk was at one point, seated right next to Trump. The two shook hands and talked.

Kirk knew both men and had spent time with them, he would recount on his podcast. And even though Kirk always made it clear that he would stand by Trump during the height of the feud with Musk, he always expressed admiration for the world’s richest man, effusively thanking him for buying what was then Twitter, calling it “the most important purchase since the Louisiana purchase.”

“[K]nowing both of these men and knowing President Trump much better than Elon, but knowing both of these men, I can tell you I think that there’s going to be a peace treaty moment, a calming down, a moment where both sides come together and we know that we are stronger against the left than we are divided,” Kirk said over the summer.

Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of Kirk’s podcast, posted a photo of the two men together at the memorial, writing: “Charlie so badly wanted these two men to come back together. I hope they’re saying to each other, ‘For Charlie.’”

Soon after, Musk posted his own photo showing him next to the president, with the words, “For Charlie.” A few hours later, the official White House X account did the same.

Asked about the meeting on Air Force One, Trump said they didn’t organize the handshake and chat because of Kirk’s desires that they mend fences, but the president nonetheless welcomed it.

“Well, Elon came over and said hello, and no, it’s nothing to do with that,” Trump said. “I thought it was nice that he came over. Had a little conversation. We had a very good relationship, but it was nice that he came over.”

Even as Musk announced he would launch a third party, Kirk said he hoped and expected Musk would return to the Trump fold.

“I think Elon and Trump will reconcile. I don’t want to see this getting barreling out of control where Elon puts up an America party. It’s a bad idea,” Kirk said on his podcast in July.

Kirk was somewhat of a mediator between Musk and Trump after their falling out. He remained in touch with Musk, often texting him, including to tell him that his negative rhetoric about the president’s major policy bill would harm Trump’s overall agenda, a source previously told CNN. Musk was receptive to Kirk and his feedback, the source said.

Though Musk had vowed to start his own party, there has been no official signs of the party being formed, though Musk has pushed back on a report in the Wall Street Journal that suggested Musk had given up on the plan. Musk has also been posting positively about President Trump once again on social media.

Musk’s America Party PAC later posted a photo of Musk embracing Erika Kirk, Charlie’s wife, after the memorial.

After Erika gave her tribute to her husband, along with a powerful message of forgiveness for her husband’s killer, Musk echoed the refrain with a line from the Lord’s Prayer.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” Musk wrote on X.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.

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