Nelson Peltz Claims He Played ‘Matchmaker’ Between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Says Harris Was a ‘Ridiculous’ Alternative

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Hedge fund billionaire Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who launched an unsuccessful proxy fight to shake up Disney’s board, said he’s responsible for connecting Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

Peltz, founding partner and CEO of investment firm Trian Partners, made the claim during the CNBC Delivering Alpha conference Wednesday. “Elon is a friend of mine,” Peltz said.

He said Musk, together with Peltz’s son Diesel, earlier this spring “had a breakfast at the house, we invited Donald for breakfast, and they sort of reunited again… I hope it’s good, you know.

I was a matchmaker.” Peltz added, “look, I don’t know if Donald would have had this sweeping victory without Elon’s help.” On Tuesday, Trump tapped Musk — a major Trump donor who used X to actively promote his campaign — along with conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” advisory group to recommend ways to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” The acronym DOGE is a reference to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency; Musk is a well-documented fan of the Doge meme and he has promoted Dogecoin (originally started as a joke to mock other cryptocurrencies) to his followers. “The world is suffering slow strangulation by overregulation,” Musk posted on X on Wednesday. “Every year, the noose tightens a little more.