Dems Mocking ‘President Musk’ To Troll Trump
After Elon Musk’s blitz of scathing posts on X tanked the pork-filled “bipartisan” spending bill on Wednesday and heightened the risk of a government shutdown, Democrats – en masse – launched a new strategy. Suddenly, every liberal politician and talking head began referring to the world’s richest man as “President Musk.” They are hoping that the prospect of President-elect Donald Trump being seen as subordinate to Musk will undermine the close relationship between the two. The question is: will the ego-driven Trump take the bait?
Lest you think this is just paranoid thinking on the part of the conservative media, The Rolling Stone reported on Thursday that it is a very real strategy conceived at the highest levels of Democratic Party leadership and it is intended to “drive a petty wedge” between the powerful duo.
As per The Rolling Stone:
According to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and another person briefed on it, at senior levels of different Democratic congressional offices, and also within the Democratic National Committee, discussions have been had about having party leaders and elected officials actively portray Musk as effectively Trump’s boss, and to do so during television appearances that the president-elect is likely to see. The idea is that it’s a cost-free opportunity to potentially drive a petty wedge between the notably mercurial and ego-obsessed Trump and his similarly emotive pal Musk, and to sow some chaos in the upper ranks of the Republican Party.
One source told The Rolling Stone, “The dream is to get this narrative going on Fox [News]. Everybody knows how easy it is to get under Donald Trump’s skin, so why not give him something else to think over?”
Although I think the plan is too sophomoric and transparent to work, that hasn’t stopped the party’s loyal foot soldiers from carrying out their orders.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) took to X on Wednesday night to lead the charge.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who appears to have taken over Senator-elect Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) mantle as the most shameless liar in the Democratic Caucus, joined MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday night’s edition of “The Last Word.”
In the clip below, O’Donnell noted, “Donald Trump is asking you to do him a big favor. Would you please raise the debt ceiling for him right now so that he can give those tax cuts to Elon Musk and other billionaires next year?”
Goldman replied, “Well, Lawrence, I think you have it just half a click off. It’s not Donald Trump asking for this. It’s very clearly President Elon Musk asking for this. The fact that Donald Trump has been completely AWOL during these negotiations to the point where only after Elon Musk publicly tweets about his displeasure and about this budget deal, all of a sudden, Donald Trump, chief of staff to Elon Musk, comes trotting in and blows up the deal.”
On Thursday, Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-TX) told reporters: “If Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don’t know why Trump doesn’t just hand him the Oval Office, or Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) welcomed Americans to the Elon Musk presidency.
Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones had a much different take on the story. He told his colleagues on Friday morning that he had spoken to Trump the night before and he is not bothered by the Democrats’ latest narrative. In fact, Jones said that Musk’s posts were a warning shot from Trump.
The last thing I’ll say on this is because a lot of people are coming out there and saying that Elon Musk is the president-elect. The Democrats have to pick a talking point. Either Donald Trump is going to be a dictator on day one and run everything and ruin the infrastructure of the country. Or he’s ceded his power to Elon Musk. It can’t be both.No, it did not bother the president. As I said yesterday, the Musk tweet was a warning shot from the president. They are in lockstep on this. This is why the president appointed him for this commission — him and Vivek [Ramaswamy]. They are doing what the president wants them to do.”
It’s unlikely that Musk would have posted such inflammatory remarks without Trump’s approval. In fact, I’d go as far as to agree with Jones that Musk’s posts likely came at Trump’s request.
With the exception of Trump’s September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris – where he most definitely took the bait—his campaign this time around was far more disciplined and strategic than either of his previous runs. This calculated approach has continued during the transition period, and there’s every reason to believe it will carry into his presidency.
As I see it, using Musk as a foil to kill the bloated spending bill presented to Congress on Wednesday was part of the Trump team’s well-thought-out strategy. After Musk lambasted the measure on X, Trump denounced it himself. The two are clearly aligned, united in their aim to cut waste from the government’s budget.
Democrats have repeatedly underestimated Trump’s intelligence and his talent for trolling them. And their latest narrative may be their most transparent miscalculation yet.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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