- Reid Hoffman said he is "not surprised" Donald Trump dissed Elon Musk.
- The LinkedIn founder called Trump a "grifter" and Musk an "entrepreneur with a real record of success."
- On Tuesday, Trump said he could have made Musk beg for his help and the Tesla CEO would have.
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman took a dig at Donald Trump on Wednesday, after the former president slammed Elon Musk.
"Not surprised to see Trump's attacks on @elonmusk. Elon's a classic immigrant story – an entrepreneur with a real record of success," Hoffman tweeted, using an American flag emoji. "Started EV revolution w/Tesla, resurrected US rocket industry w/SpaceX, fighting climate change while promoting American innovation."
On Tuesday, Trump took aim at Musk after the Tesla CEO said that it was time for the former President to "sail into the sunset." In a post on his social-media site, Truth Social, Trump said he could have made Musk "drop to his knees and beg" when he was in the White House and the tech CEO would have done it.
Spokespeople for Hoffman and Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Hoffman went on to compare Musk and Trump, calling the former president a "grifter."
"Trump, OTOH [on the other hand], is a spoiled rich kid who bankrupts everything he touches, including the US economy," Hoffman said on Twitter. "His career highlight was pretending to be a successful entrepreneur on a TV show, instead of being one in real life like Elon."
—Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) July 13, 2022
The former host of "The Apprentice" did assist Musk on several occasions while in the White House. In 2020, he supported Musk's efforts to re-open his Tesla factory in Fremont, California, amid COVID-19 regulations.
While Musk is the richest person in the world, Trump dropped off Forbes' list of the 400 Wealthiest Americans last year. During Trump's presidency, the real estate magnate's net worth plummeted by as much as $700 million as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the real estate market, per Forbes' data.
More recently, Trump's net worth has climbed back to about $3 billion, in large part driven by his investment in Truth Social, Forbes reported in April. Shares of the SPAC tied to Trump's social media app surged as much as 20% after Musk announced on July 8 that he no longer plans to buy Twitter.
While Musk has said he supports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a potential 2024 presidential candidate instead of Trump, the Tesla CEO did say earlier this year that he planned to restore Trump's Twitter account if he took over the company.