Has Kim Kardashian gone MAGA?
That question swirled around the internet this week after Ms. Kardashian, the reality show personality and pre-eminent social media influencer, posted a serieals of photographs of herself on Instagram and X posing in front of and inside a Tesla Cybercab.
She wore black heels and lace stockings over her signature nude-colored shapewear, with a garter belt and a puffy black jacket. An Optimus robot — that reportedly will be capable of doing practically anything, whether it’s operating a Cybertruck or frying an egg — sat in the driver’s seat.
There were pictures of Ms. Kardashian standing outside the vehicle. There were pictures of her sitting on the bot’s lap. A representative for Ms. Kardashian, who has concealed some sponsored content in the past, said no payments were received in exchange for the posts.
The timing was definitely curious. Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has gained new prominence as one of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s most notable backers, and he has even been asked by Mr. Trump to join Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “department of government efficiency.”
That connection was enough for people to start speculating about her motivations, and some went as far as connecting those posts with Ms. Kardashian’s apparent friendliness with Ivanka Trump, Mr. Trump’s daughter, to bolster the case that she had embraced Mr. Trump politically.
That speculation began in 2023, when Ms. Kardashian held a birthday celebration at Funke, an Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills, Calif. Many people were surprised that a photograph Ms. Kardashian posted on Instagram from that party featured her with a group that included Lauren Sánchez, the partner of Jeff Bezos, and Ms. Trump.
