Trump Seemingly Confirms The 'President Elon' Jokes Are Getting Under His Skin

Elon Musk is quickly becoming a formidable figure in politics — and that's got to be a blow to Donald Trump's ego. Though the president-elect has appointed Musk part of an unofficial advisory team on budget oversight, the SpaceX founder has extended his reach even before his boss takes office. In just the few weeks' time following the election, Musk has met or spoken to a number of international leaders, leading to concern he might have a say on foreign policy. He was instrumental in killing a bipartisan Congressional spending bill and replacing it with a trimmed-down version (which also got rejected by the House). This sudden influence has led many to wonder just who's in charge. Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee recently told CNN (seen here on X, formerly Twitter): "It appears that Elon Musk is trying to take the role as an unelected president. And in fact, Donald Trump, it appears, is following his orders."

Trump may not be sick of Musk, but he may be sick of being called his puppet. After spending the last four years declaring that he was the only one who could "save America," all the "#PresidentMusk" hashtags are undermining his message. Trump let his feelings slip out in a joke he cracked at the December 22 session of AmericaFest, a gathering of young conservatives. Calling the rumors just the latest in the series of "hoaxes" spread by the media, Trump said (via CNN), "The new one is 'President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.' ... No, he's not going to be president, that I can tell you. And I'm safe, you know why? He can't be — he wasn't born in this country."

President-elect Trump's joke about Elon Musk wasn't the assurance he intended it to be. So the only thing keeping Musk from taking over the White House is his South African birth certificate? That implies he has all the other qualifications needed to be the leader of the free world. One critic on X cracked: "Oh, look. Trump found a rule in the Constitution he is counting on.' Another wondered why Trump would consider himself "safe" from Musk, since the billionaire isn't in the line of presidential succession to begin with. Others detected insecurity on Trump's part. "'I'm safe' — Is he trying to convince us or himself?" asked a commenter. The pro-Trump faction, on the other hand, scoffed at the scoffers and insisted it was the divisive politician who had the last laugh at the "President Musk" snarkers.

Musk himself hasn't directly come out and said, "I'm not calling the shots." He prefers a subtler approach: namely, responding a simple "Yup" to posts on X that back him up on the topic. One claimed Democrats "are deliberately trying to drive a wedge between Musk and Trump," and another defended him: "The thing about Elon's alleged political power is that it mainly flows from just saying things out loud that are obviously true." So, to coin a phrase — yup, it looks as though Donald Trump and Elon Musk's relationship will survive the joking, at least for now.