Whether Elon Musk is the real “president,” merely the “prime minister” or just Donald Trump’s multibillionaire enforcer, he’s carving out an unprecedented role that could raise conflicts of interest for the new administration.
The dust is still settling following the Tesla and SpaceX pioneer’s role last week in sabotaging a year-end House spending package, which was eventually replaced by a smaller stopgap law to keep the government open until March.
Republican lawmakers on Sunday raced to praise and defend the X owner — perhaps not surprisingly since the richest man in the world has threatened to finance primary challenges to members of Congress who defy Trump’s orders.
“Thank God Elon Musk bought Twitter, because that’s the only way we’d even know what’s in this bill,” Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” The comment might seem strange since lawmakers ought not to need a social media network to be able to read a bill before they vote. But Hagerty also revealed Musk’s hold on the GOP base when he said that “every one of our offices was inundated with calls from our constituents” after the billionaire’s complaints that the bill was full of bloated spending
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons conjured up a scenario on “State of the Union” of Musk doubling the chaos that characterized Trump’s first term. “This is a predictor of what’s likely to happen. We’re not just going to have President-elect Trump as a billionaire rage-tweeting at 4 a.m. We’re going to have Elon Musk also injecting instability into how we tackle very complicated and important issues for our country,” he said.Coons’ comments came after multiple Democrats spoke of “President Musk” as the country wobbled on the brink of a government shutdown last week.
On Wednesday morning, 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,” Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania told CNN’s Jessica Dean on Saturday.
The gambit, a welcome opening for a party that struggled to fashion a convincing message in the election and that has been flailing ever since, seems to have worked, as Trump brought up the issue himself Sunday.
“No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump told conservative activists at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix. The president-elect insisted he liked having smart people around and accused his opponents of launching “a new kick” after he suggested they tried to delegitimize his first term over “Russia, Russia, Russia.” Trump added: “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.”
Trump’s comments suggested at the very least that the constant coverage of Musk’s role has caught his eye and that he resents the idea that his new best friend is the power behind the throne. They will also stoke fresh speculation over how long the president-elect, who doesn’t normally like to share any spotlight, will tolerate Musk’s soaring profile — even if both men have huge incentives to continue a friendship that has seen the tech pioneer almost constantly at Trump’s side at Mar-a-Lago since the election.
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