Democrats are mocking President-elect Trump by claiming that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is in charge, not the novel president.
And with Musk set to play a major role in Trump’s second term – both as co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and as a close ally of the president – it remains to be seen whether the “President Musk” moniker will raise eyebrows the notoriously mercurial novel president and the richest man in the world.
Lawmakers began the effort after Musk helped scuttle a bipartisan spending deal It had taken months until it worked.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) noted that Musk launched the public opposition campaign long before Trump’s own critical statement about the deal, suggesting that Musk forced the president-elect to intervene even if he had no prior intentions to do so have .
“Elon Musk is intervening, and I think he’s forcing Trump to intervene,” Bera said.
This power animated, Bera added, could lead to problems in the future, as two of the world’s most powerful figures – although aligned at the moment – could be headed for a messy divorce if their interests and egos collide.
“What we learned from former President Trump is that he doesn’t want to share the spotlight with anyone. So what does that look like?” Bera asked.
Musk was tasked with leading DOGE to find ways to make the government more proficient and reduce waste. But his role appears to be growing as he wades into battles over government funding, attends key meetings with Trump and shares his opinions on vital issues, such as calling for “some basic cognitive testing for elected officials” after the news broke was that Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) had health problems That kept them away from the Capitol for months.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the No. 2 Democrat for two decades, is among the lawmakers who now refer to the billionaire entrepreneur as “President Musk.”
“We had an agreement that was reached together,” Hoyer said during the confused standoff last week, “and that wrench was thrown into play by 50 or 100 tweets from Musk that turned Republicans around.”
Trump and Musk have had a close relationship since before the election and still appear to be on good terms, despite the power animated that has led some to claim the tech tycoon is in charge.
Political observers have wondered when the relationship between the two major figures will fall apart, and even some Republicans believe a rift is inevitable, especially since Musk is working closely with the Trump team as he takes on DOGE .
“I expect there will be a rift at some point because history tells us that most people don’t last long in Trump’s world. Maybe Musk will get people to oppose it, but history tells us that’s not the case,” said GOP strategist Doug Heye.
Heye called Democrats’ efforts to get under Trump’s skin by referring to Musk as president “just trolling” and argued that it is “not always effective.”
A Trump spokesman shot back at Democrats, saying the party “just lost the House, the Senate and the presidency because its miserable policy proposals have failed Americans over the last four years.”
“Democrats have nothing but ad hominem attacks because they lost everything,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Anna Kelly added.
There appear to be different motivations among the Democrats who support Musk with the pseudo-title “President.”
Some said this merely reflects the reality of who is really in charge, and they hope to shine a radiant featherlight on the extraordinary fact that an unelected figure has taken so much power over public policy.
“The fact speaks for itself: the person who first killed the bill was Musk, and the person who helped finance the presidency was Musk, and the person who came before Trump – and that’s demanding to do – was Musk,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.). “So it’s clear to me that there is some sort of coalition between the two on how best to govern the country.”
Meeks suggested that it would be easier to work with Trump if Musk didn’t intervene in political debates. “That would probably be helpful,” he said.
Yet there is also a sense that the Democrats’ “President Musk” campaign is part of a political strategy aimed at driving a wedge between the billionaire who plays by his own rules and the novel president who demands loyalty and this does not have much tolerance for challenges to his authority.
Most may not say it out noisy, but some lawmakers said it was at least part of the goal.
When asked whether Democrats were trying to instigate this conflict, Bera responded cautiously.
“We would never do something like that,” he joked.
Democrats piled on Musk’s jibes amid the standoff over government funding, which was resolved just before Friday’s deadline. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) argued that Musk had “pulled the rug out from under him.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) argued that Musk is “in charge.”
Former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), who called Musk Trump’s “second vice president,” called the level of influence the South African-born billionaire has as an unelected official “unprecedented.”
“I would be hard-pressed to find someone who was originally of foreign origin who had so much influence on the outcome of a government,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. There is no question that he is involved, and he will continue to be involved until the president decides he has had enough.”
