By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-23 16:31:38 | Updated at 2024-12-23 20:03:53
3 hours ago
President-elect Donald Trump took a swipe at 'first buddy' Elon Musk as critics question who is really in charge between the close pair as the 78-year-old prepares to return to the White House.
It comes after Republicans had to scramble to avert a government shutdown late last week after the tech billionaire and then the president-elect criticized the first bill negotiated, tanking it.
It lead to a series of digs by Democrats and Trump critics who mockingly started to refer to Trump's close ally as 'President Musk.'
Speaking for more than hour at the conservative Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix on Sunday, Trump vented that even if Musk wanted to be president, he couldn't.
'No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,' Trump told the crowd.
'And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country,' he continued.
To become president, the U.S. Constitution requires a person to be a natural-born citizen. But Musk was born in South Africa.
President-elect Donald Trump claimed Musk is 'not going to be president' because he was born in South Africa as his critics question who is really in charge in the GOP
The world's richest man spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help the Republican president-elect win a second term and has been a near permanent presence at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home ever since.
After Musk criticized the bipartisan negotiated spending deal last week helping tank it, Republicans put forward another GOP-only proposal which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) referred to as the 'Musk-Johnson' deal.
On the House floor, Democratic lawmakers blasted 'President Musk' for sending Congress scrambling in the 11th hour before the government shutdown deadline.
Online, Trump critics have seized on 'President Musk' and ridiculed Trump with memes featuring Musk sitting in the Oval Office with Trump standing behind him and other images suggesting it's the billionaire who is actually in charge.
As lawmakers looked to reach a government funding deal, Musk furiously tweeted objections to the original bill which was more than 1,500 pages. Trump eventually also weighed in that he too was against it before it sank.
Trump speaking at Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest in Phoenix on December 22
Musk standing behind Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the Army-Navy game on December 14
Trump with Musk at a campaign event in Butler, PA on October 5, 2024
After Democrats slammed the GOP replacement as a 'Musk-Johnson' deal, the billionaire even tried to distance himself.
He posted giving credit for the GOP spending deal, which also failed before a final agreement was reach, to Trump, Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson.
But Musk, who Trump tapped to co-head a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been seen consistently with the president-elect after spending $277 million on the 2024 election.
He was hovering behind him at the Army-Navy football game earlier this month, sat next to him at Thanksgiving in Florida and has been spotted during his visits to Capitol Hill and New York City.
After the Republican scramble to avert the government shutdown following Musk and Trump tanking the original deal, GOP lawmakers over the weekend rushed to defend the tech billionaire's meddling.
Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas compared Musk to an unelected prime minister when asked about the role he is playing.
'We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels as if Elon Musk is our prime minister,' Gonzales told CBS News' 'Face the Nation' on Sunday.
He said he had even spoken to Musk a couple of times during the week and argued though Musk was never elected, he has a voice.
'I think a large part of that voice is a reflection of the voice of the people,' he claimed.
