LinkedIn's founder says he's not surprised Trump attacked Elon Musk: 'His career highlight was pretending to be a successful entrepreneur on a TV show'

• Reid Hoffman said he's "not surprised" former President Donald Trump dissed Elon Musk.
• The LinkedIn founder called Trump a grifter and Musk an "entrepreneur with a real record of success."

Reid Hoffman, a LinkedIn cofounder, took a dig at former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after Trump 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, including 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 criticized Musk after the Tesla CEO said 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 with Trump, calling the former president a "grifter."

"Trump, OTOH, 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 reopen his Tesla factory in Fremont, California, amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

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, according to Forbes' data.

More recently, Trump's net worth has climbed back to about $3 billion, largely driven by his investment in Truth Social, Forbes reported in April. Shares of the special-purpose acquisition company tied to Trump's social-media app surged as much as 20% after Musk announced on Friday that he no longer planned to buy Twitter.

While Musk has said he supported Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida as a 2024 presidential candidate instead of Trump, the Tesla CEO said earlier this year that he planned to restore Trump's Twitter account if he took over the company.