Donald Trump has reportedly floated a possible advisory role for the tech magnate Elon Musk if he were to reoccupy the White House next year, according to a fresh report from the WSJ. The two men, who once had an edgy relationship, have had quite a few phone calls a month since March as Trump looks to court influential donors and Musk seeks an opening for his policy ideas, the newspaper said, citing some anonymous sources acquainted with their conversations.

Trump and Musk connected in March at the estate of billionaire Nelson Peltz. After that, the two have discussed several policy issues, including immigration, which Musk has got vocal about in recent months. “America will fall if it tries to absorb the world,” Musk had tweeted in March. Musk has stated he will not donate to either presidential campaign this election, but has reportedly shared with Trump his plansto host gatherings to deter wealthy and powerful allies from supporting Joe Biden in November.

Only a few years have gone by since Musk and Trump were exchanging insults. At a rally in 2022, Trump termed Musk “another bullshit artist”. In the meantime, Musk tweeted that Trump should “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset”. Musk had in fact briefly served on Trump’s White House business advisory group early during his presidency, but Musk quit after Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord in 2017.

Now, relations between the two appears to have softened. When Musk bought Twitter he reinstated Trump’s account. Musk has since requested Trump to be more active on X, according to the Journal, though Trump has been loyal to his Truth Social platform. In March, after meeting Musk at Nelson Peltz’s estate, Trump told CNBC: “I’ve been friendly with him over the years. I helped him when I was president. I helped him. I’ve liked him.” Peltz, an investor, is proving to be a key connector between Trump and Musk. Peltz and Musk have informed Trump that they are working on a large data-driven project meant to ensure votes are fairly counted, though details on the project still remain opaque.

As the owner of SpaceXand Tesla, Musk has hugely benefited from federal government policies and contracts over the last many years, including tax credits for electric vehicles and rocket-service contracts. Trump in March stated he and Musk “obviously have opposing views on a minor subject called electric cars”, with Trump opposing ramping up EV production and supporting tariffs against foreign EV manufacturing.