Story summary
On October 8, President Donald Trump honored Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, along with other tech leaders at the White House’s "Science: A New Golden Age Summit." The summit included the presentation of National Medals of Science to Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and AMD CEO Lisa Su. Additionally, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell were awarded National Medals of Technology and Innovation.
The event also featured a pledge of $2.4 billion in funding from tech giants like Nvidia (contributing $1 billion), AMD ($500 million), OpenAI ($200 million), Anthropic ($150 million), Google ($150 million), and others for federal AI-driven scientific research initiatives across 14 agencies.
Despite Trump’s praise, Musk's relationship with the president has been tumultuous. After a public feud over Trump's spending bill, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill," they have recently reconciled, with Musk now set to take on a role in Project Meridian alongside his award reception.
Written for “Trump Honors Tech Leaders Awards” on 2026-10-09,
grounded in this article and the 7 other(s) covering the same event.
He stands accused of being out of touch, enriching himself and his family, building a lavish White House ballroom and, with elections looming, neglecting the hardships of the voters who brought him to power.
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who → accuse → power
Time for Donald Trump to show he still has the common touch?
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he → show → touch
On Thursday, the US president went to a building he named after himself, dished out awards to the world’s richest person – his old frenemy Elon Musk – and other tech billionaires and even received an award that belonged to his late uncle.
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that → go → uncle
Given Trump’s gold fetish, the event was naturally entitled the Golden Age of American Innovation summit, which will be news to the many agencies and academies suffering billions of dollars in cuts to scientific research on his watch.
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which → give → watch
“We have an extremely high-IQ audience for a change,” the president told about 300 invited guests at the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, a compliment he never pays to the crowds who line up for hours to attend his campaign rallies.
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who → have → rallies
Standing on a podium with a white backdrop and series of US flags, the president gave a perfunctory speech, sticking unusually close to his teleprompter.
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president → stand → teleprompter
He made references to artificial super intelligence but steered clear of the datacentres these tech overlords are erecting all over the country and, in the process, achieving the unique feat of getting Democrats and Republicans to agree on how much they hate them.
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they → make → them
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House office of science and technology policy, then treated Trump to a video about his uncle, Dr John Trump, an electrical engineer and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who received the National Medal of Science in 1983.
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who → treat → 1983
The short film’s claims that John Trump’s research produced X-ray generators “used for the first radiation treatments for cancer” and that “his radars jammed German defences” on D-day in 1944 owe something to his nephew’s fondness for “truthful hyperbole”.
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radars → produce → hyperbole
Six years ago, the president, who believes in “good genes” and “racehorse theory”, suggested that his uncle’s legacy would help him fight the Covid-19 pandemic: “He was a great super genius.
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He → believe → pandemic
I like this stuff.
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I → like → stuff
I really get it.
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I → get → it
People are surprised that I understand it.
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I → understand → it
Every one of these doctors said: ‘How do you know so much about this?’
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you → say → this
Maybe I have a natural ability.
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I → have → ability
Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
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I → do → president
Kratsios had a surprise for the boss.
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Kratsios → have → boss
He presented Trump with his uncle’s National Medal of Science in a handsome frame as the audience clapped.
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audience → present → frame
He looked happy enough, though it was clear this won’t displace the gaudy Fifa peace prize from his trophy cabinet.
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this → look → cabinet
Among the six tech leaders who came up on stage to receive an award for scientific and technological achievement, five were immigrants.
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five → come → achievement
The “America first” president gave the National Medal of Science to SpaceX chief executive Musk (born in South Africa); Google co-founder Sergey Brin (Russia); Jensen Huang (Taiwan), whose AI chip maker Nvidia is the world’s most valuable company; and Lisa Su (Taiwan), head of the semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices.
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Nvidia → give → company
Trump also handed the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft supremo Satya Nadella (India) and Dell Technologies chief executive Michael Dell (Texas).
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Trump → hand → Nadella
Hours earlier, JD Vance had announced Microsoft’s suspension from a programme allowing companies to sponsor foreign workers for green cards.
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companies → announce → cards
The trillionaire Musk was wearing a dark suit, white shirt and white tie.
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Musk → wear → suit
Trump gave him a pat on the back, handed him the medal and gave him another pat, then showed him a certificate and patted him once more.
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Trump → give → him
In earlier remarks, the president called Musk an “industrial titan”, “brilliant engineer”, “national treasure” and “modern-day Thomas Edison”.
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president → call → Musk
He observed: “It all works out well for Elon, right?”
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It → observe → Elon
Musk helped buy the 2024 election for Trump and found Doge a useful vehicle to gut the federal agencies investigating his companies.
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Doge → help → companies
The president considered Musk’s Grok chatbot ingenious after it accurately predicted that ordinary Venezuelans would celebrate the removal of leader Nicolás Maduro, according to Time magazine.
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Venezuelans → consider → magazine
Then came their explosive falling out, with Musk tweeting on his own X platform: “Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files.
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Trump → come → files
That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
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they → make → ?
It turned out both men were in the files.
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men → turn → files
Vance reportedly brokered a truce between the two titanic egos.
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Vance → broker → egos
The bromance has never been fully rekindled, but Thursday was proof that power and wealth can’t live without each other – especially with elections less than a month away and Trump’s approval rating in the doldrums.
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power → rekindle → doldrums
When the ceremony was over, however, it was AI king Huang who remained on stage alongside Trump as the familiar strains of the Village People’s YMCA blasted from loudspeakers (“Young man, when you’re short on your dough,” did not resonate with this crowd).
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you → remain → crowd
The pair were pointing and directing people, presumably for a photo op, and looking pleased with themselves.
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pair → point → themselves
It was a fitting closing image of two men who rule the world and may yet find a artificial super intelligent way to destroy it.
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who → rule → it
The Aporia
