President-elect Donald Trump is setting the record straight: He’s calling the shots, not Elon Musk.
“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said with a laugh at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix on Sunday, his first major speech following the November election. “And I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be. He wasn’t born in this country.”
The president-elect made the tongue-in-cheek comment while praising South African-born Musk as a “great guy.” Musk, along with tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, is set to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, an agency with the goal of shrinking the size of government and cutting spending.
Trump’s comments came as Democrats have sought to use Musk, the world’s richest person, as a foil, accusing him of undermining the incoming president.
Just days before, Trump — along with Musk — intervened in House Republicans’ initial government spending package, leading to chaos as Congress raced against the clock to avoid a government shutdown.
Some congressional Democrats raised concerns about Musk’s influence over congressional Republicans, and have taunted Trump by alleging that Musk is the one in charge. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, put out a video calling Trump “vice president” to “President Musk.”
Republicans have sought to downplay any rift between the two, with Trump’s team dismissing those claims as “ridiculous.” Amid the spending bill debacle last week, Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, said, “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
“All the different hoaxes, and the new one is, ‘President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk,’” Trump said to the crowd on Sunday. “No, no. That’s not happening.”
Musk has been flexing his political muscles in recent months, including pouring more than $260 million into the 2024 election in support of Republicans. Last week, he said that he’s planning to fund moderate primary challengers to incumbent Democrats. Some Republicans have floated him as the next pick for speaker of the House in recent days, as Speaker Mike Johnson’s future appears shaky.
The Musk comments came toward the end of Trump’s hour-plus-long victory lap of a speech, where he touted winning the popular vote, praised his “all-star” Cabinet picks and outlined goals for his upcoming term.
Trump’s speech was similar to those he delivered on the campaign trail over the 2024 cycle. He made bold claims about lowering taxes, taking back the Panama Canal and vowed not to rename military bases, a nod to his plans to end “woke” ideology in the military.