Trump team makes clear Elon Musk isn’t the leader of the GOP
President-elect Donald Trump’s team is making clear that he’s the one in charge of the Republican Party — not Elon Musk.
In a statement to B-17 for a story about how Musk helped tank a government funding bill (otherwise known as a continuing resolution, or “CR”) this week, Trump-Vance Transition Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt pushed back on statements made by Democrats that Musk is actually calling the shots, rather than the president-elect himself.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” Leavitt said. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
Musk has also pushed back on those statements, writing on X: “All I can do is bring things to the attention of the people, so they may voice their support if they so choose.”
It came after scores of Democrats baited Trump with social media posts accusing Musk of being the actual president-elect, the “shadow president,” or the “co-president.”
It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump.
Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead. pic.twitter.com/feDiAXe8yp
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) December 18, 2024
While a statement from Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance late in the day on Wednesday marked the final straw for the ill-fated government funding bill, Republican opposition had reached a fever pitch on Capitol Hill long before either of them weighed in.
Several Republicans even cited arguments put forward by Musk, or his DOGE co-lead, Vivek Ramaswamy, in explaining why they would oppose what they characterized as wasteful spending in the bill.
Great outline on several of the reasons I’ll be a NO vote https://t.co/CbEoes4dDO
— Congressman Michael Cloud (@RepCloudTX) December 18, 2024
Meanwhile, some Republicans questioned why Trump hadn’t weighed in sooner.
