Team Trump pushes back on ‘President Musk’ talk amid spending bill negotiations
The billionaire is flexing his influence over the Republican Party — and Team Trump

is irked by all the attention he’s getting.

Dec. 20, 2024, 2:27 PM PST
By Ja'han Jones

Elon Musk’s unmatched ability to weaponize his social media
platform, X, against politicians who defy his wishes came into focus
Thursday, as Musk helped kill a bipartisan agreement to fund the
government beyond Friday.

That’s led some critics of President-elect Donald Trump to highlight
how secondary he appears in comparison to Musk, as “President
Musk” references proliferate online. Democrats and their allies have t
aken up the moniker and shared images depicting Trump as Musk’s
servant or sidekick.

Take this picture posted by Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, for example:

Jasmine Crockett
@JasmineForUS·
Follow

Well… today the House Republicans will decide who their master is… you can’t serve two!

Is it the South African Oligarch or the people that elected us?

Time is ticking! Trump has made his decision…

Team Trump clearly doesn’t seem happy about all this mockery and talk of Musk’s power. In a post Thursday to the
social media platform he owns, Musk tried to downplay claims he’s running the Republican Party, despite his
hourslong tweet storm slamming the bipartisan deal House Speaker Mike Johnson had struck. And Trump
spokesperson Karoline Leavitt issued a statement to multiple media outlets on Thursday, trying to quell the
“President Musk” talk and insisting that Trump is still in charge of his party.

“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the [continuing resolution], Republicans echoed his point
of view,” Leavitt said. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”

But if your spokespeople are having to issue public declarations that no, really, you’re the one in charge, then it’s
only because that isn’t as obvious as it should be. Needless to say, Musk is not actually president (and under the
Constitution as currently written, he can’t be, as someone who isn’t a natural-born citizen).

One problem for Trump is that he has billed his massive wealth and huge audience as indicators of power, in politics
or out. Remember when he ran for president against Hillary Clinton and claimed that his wealth afforded him control
over every politician to whom he’d donated? And remember when, around that same time, he bragged about his
large social media following?

The tables, it appears, have turned.

Now Trump is the establishment politician he used to condemn, whose power is eclipsed by a well-heeled outsider.
And he seems every bit as willing to engage in some quid pro quo with his wealthy benefactors — including Musk —
as he portrayed the Clintons to be. Musk has substantially more money than Trump and, thanks to his acquisition
of Twitter, a much louder megaphone. The Washington Post recently published a report that showed Musk’s
audience on social media dwarfs all other politicians, Trump included.

So despite the fact that Musk isn’t technically the president, it seems pretty clear that, if wealth and influence are the
measure of power that Trump claimed they are, it’s Musk who’s in a position to steer the ship that is the Republican
Party.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com