Trump praises Elon Musk: “Thomas Edison of our time

U.S. President Donald Trump presented Elon Musk with the National Medal of Science, praising the Tesla and SpaceX executive’s contribution and influence in the field of technology.

The honors ceremony also recognized Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su.

Trump awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, considered the highest U.S. honor for technological achievements, to Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

Although the relationship between Trump and Musk has cooled somewhat in recent months, following the start of the president’s second term, the U.S. president publicly expressed his appreciation for the entrepreneur.

“Today we honor a titan of industry, an extraordinary engineer and one of the greatest founders in technology who has ever lived. His name is Elon Musk. Few Americans in the history of the country have done more than Elon to advance America’s national interests,” Trump declared.

Trump also described Musk as “the Thomas Edison of our time,” adding that he is “my friend and a very, very smart guy.”

According to U.S. media outlets, all those honored have contributed in one way or another to Trump’s campaigns or to the causes of the Republican Party.

Musk joined the Trump administration for a brief period, leading an initiative to reduce the federal workforce. He was the president’s largest private donor during the 2024 campaign, while Brin contributed significant sums to the Republican National Committee in 2025.