Elon Musk has been criticised over comments he made on Twitter/X in the wake of the apparent attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, saying "no one is even trying to assassinate" Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.

The White House has condemned Musk’s comments and he has since deleted them, saying they were a joke, but this is far from the first time Musk’s posts on X have caused outrage.

Since his takeover of the social media platform in 2022, he has become a bigger, louder and more controversial presence in US politics - now openly funding and supporting Donald Trump.

So what is Musk up to? What is his relationship with Trump really about? And what is he going to do next?

To discuss this on the American Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined by New York Times journalists Ryan Mac and Kate Conger, who have just published a book called "Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter".

Produced by Silvia Maresca, Calum Fraser, Rob Thomson

What Donald Trump and Elon Musk's alliance is really about | The American Fourcast