Elon Musk says comments of “President Musk” is part of a media conspiracy to “drive a wedge between” him and Donald Trump, but he hasn’t outright rejected his new moniker.
Comments about Musk’s political influence rolled in after he went on a posting spree Wednesday to threaten GOP lawmakers with retribution if they didn’t reject a stopgap budget he felt had too wide of a scope.
It was not until hours later that Trump chimed in to threaten the same, leading some Democrats to allege that it was Musk—and not the president-elect—who was “calling the shots.”
That’s all a media and left-wing conspiracy, Musk claimed Friday.
“The political & legacy media puppets all got their new instructions yesterday and are now parroting the same message,” he wrote on X.
Musk’s comment came in response to a post that claimed Democrats hoped to “weaken Trump and Elon by fomenting tensions between them.” Musk agreed and said that is “exactly the goal.”
“They will fail,” he added.
Trump hasn’t directly addressed growing claims that Musk is usurping his power, but his incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, released a statement Thursday to remind the country who is really in charge.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” she said. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
In another statement, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team told NBC News that Musk and Trump are “great friends” and “brilliant leaders” who are “working together to make America great again.” The statement suggested Musk was only doing his job as a leader on the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency program when he has opined on budget issues.
“Musk is a once in a generation business leader and our federal bureaucracy will certainly benefit from his ideas and efficiency,” the statement added. “The transition team will ensure the Department of Government Efficiency and those involved with it are compliant with all legal guidelines related to conflicts of interest.”
Musk has lightly downplayed his growing GOP influence, but has not outright asked that his new moniker be retired. On Thursday, he redirected credit for a new budget bill to Trump, J.D. Vance, and House Speaker Mike Johnson after a poster had praised Musk directly for it.
“First of all, I’m not the author of this proposal,” he wrote. “Credit to @realDonaldTrump, @JDVance & @SpeakerJohnson. Second, this is a MUCH better bill that is closer to being a real continuing resolution (not an omnibus masquerading as a CR), but with support for hurricane victims & farmers, as well as a reasonable extension to the debt ceiling.”
Democrats have used Musk’s high-profile spot in Trump’s orbit as an attack point.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) declared that “the leader of the GOP is Elon Musk.”
Others have suggested that Trump wouldn’t have thrown Congress into disarray over the budget bill if not for Musk’s comments.
“It’s not Donald Trump asking for this, it’s very clearly President Elon Musk asking for this,” the Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman said Wednesday. “The fact that Donald Trump has been completely AWOL during these negotiations to the point where only after Elon Musk publicly tweets about his displeasure about this budget deal, all of a sudden, Donald Trump, chief of staff to Elon Musk, comes trotting in and blows up the deal.”
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) pondered if Musk was “kind of cosplaying co-President here,” adding, “I don’t know why Trump doesn’t just hand him the Oval Office.”
Claims of “President Musk” continued well into Friday. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) went as far as sending a letter to House leaders that questioned whether the multi-billionaire’s efforts to kill the first bipartisan CR package was tied to him protecting his own personal interests. Musk reportedly holds over $15 billion in federal contracts.
At least one former U.S. intelligence official said they’re worried Musk has too many conflict of interests to be working hand-in-hand with Trump like he has since Election Day, going on calls with foreign leaders and directly effecting policy.
“I’m more concerned about conflicts of interest. Under any other normal circumstance, that would not be permitted, but now we are in a different rule set when it’s Trump,” the official told NBC. “When he’s one of the arbiters of government efficiency, and how many thousands of people he can fire, he has all these government conflicts.”
