Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York suggested Thursday that Elon Musk, not President-elect Trump, may be leading the Trump administration, citing the tech entrepreneur's leadership in opposing government stopgap measures. pointed out the position.
“Elon Musk has Donald Trump in a vise,” Goldman said Thursday on MSNBC. “And it's clear that Elon Musk is now calling the shots.”
Musk made several social media posts Wednesday criticizing the spending deal released this week by House Republicans. He called the more than 1,500-page bill a big piece of “pork” and urged Republican lawmakers to oppose it.
President Trump also called for the bill to be repealed later in the day, suggesting that Congress instead pass a clean CR bill that would include increased debt increases. The proposal was defeated Thursday night, and Congress is now working on Plan C.
“We have to face reality. Now we have President Elon Musk. And what about Trump? I think he's probably the vice president,” Goldman said. “That makes sense because the vice president doesn't do much. He might be the chief of staff. I don't know what you call him, but he doesn't have decision-making power.”
Goldman is not the only Democrat to say that Musk is in control of the administration. Many Democrats have made similar claims, and the White House has said President Trump and the Republican Party are at the mercy of billionaires.
Regardless of whether this argument is true or not, is this the kind of argument President Trump has begun to fall into in the past?
Trump's team maintained that the Republican candidate was leading the party.
“As soon as President Trump announced his official position on CR, [continuing resolution]Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his views. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. A complete halt,” Caroline Levitt, a transition spokeswoman for the Trump Vance team, said in a statement previously shared with The Hill.
President Trump appointed Musk, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami, to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory committee focused on cutting spending and reducing the size of the federal government.
