While Donald Trump still thinks his “first buddy” Elon Musk is a “great guy,” he wants to make it clear that only one man is calling the shots.
“No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump declared in a Sunday night speech. “That’s not happening.”
The president-elect’s snarky remark comes as Democrats have sought to drive a wedge between the world’s richest man and the notoriously thin-skinned Trump by highlighting Musk’s growing influence and describing him as the “real president.” The taunts have only grown following last week’s chaos on Capitol Hill after Musk raged against House Republicans’ original spending bill, prompting lawmakers to race against the clock to strike another deal to prevent the government from shutting down.
“Elon Musk proved that he is the real leader of the Republican Party, because over the course of about four or five or six hours, he tweeted nonstop against the deal that had been negotiated and agreed to by all sides,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) told CNN this weekend.
Democratic lawmaker Dan Goldman added that Trump was merely the “chief of staff” to “President Musk” at this point. At the same time, anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project posted a video calling Trump “vice president” to Musk.
Even though conservative media has asserted that Trump and the Tesla CEO “are in lockstep,” and the incoming president’s team has called the notion that Musk is the one running the show “ridiculous,” other Republicans have suggested that the X (formerly Twitter) owner’s influence is nearly on par with Trump’s.
Musk, who co-chairs Trump’s government efficiency advisory committee, has been urged by several MAGA lawmakers to supplant Mike Johnson — who he humiliated over the government funding package — as speaker of the House. Additionally, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) said on Sunday morning that “it feels” as if the DOGE leader “is our prime minister.”
Towards the end of his lengthy address at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest on Sunday evening, Trump sent a message that while he considered Musk a “great guy,” there was a limit to his ascendency.
“No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump quipped before claiming Democrats were on a “new kick” regarding Musk. “All the different hoaxes, and the new one is, ‘President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.’ No, no, that’s not happening.”
He also made a point that regardless of how much influence people thought Musk had within the GOP and his incoming administration, there was one job that Musk absolutely couldn’t obtain.
“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump proclaimed. “And I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be. He wasn’t born in this country. But the fake news knows that.”
Meanwhile, those who have been in Trump’s inner circle only to be pushed out in the end predict that Musk’s position by Trump’s side won’t last as there’s only so much spotlight to share.
“When you initially begin in that role, you have enormous influence,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Sunday. “And he loves having you around, and he loves listening to you, and you’re the best thing in the world. It will always decline. And that’s what happens. And you’ll see it. It will happen with Elon Musk, too.”
