The Republican noted that the billionaire was not a native-born American.
Donald Trump, the incoming US president, stated that Elon Musk will not be the US president, dismissing Democratic claims that Musk is the Republican Party’s true leader following his online campaign against a government spending bill.
Some Democratic leaders expressed concerns about Musk’s significant influence on Trump, suggesting that Trump had relinquished the presidency to the tech billionaire.
During his first major post-election address at Turning Point’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday, Trump refuted these assertions.
“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” he said. “And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country.”
Musk’s South African birthplace disqualifies him from the presidency, as the US Constitution mandates that the president be a natural-born citizen.
These comments follow recent suggestions by Democratic politicians that Musk is the GOP’s “real leader.”
These claims arose after Musk aggressively opposed a bipartisan government funding bill, labeling it “criminal,” “outrageous,” and “one of the worst bills ever written.”
Commenting on the spending bill’s failure, Karoline Leavitt, transition spokesperson for the Trump-Vance team, issued a statement last week, as reported by The Hill.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR [continuing resolution], Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop,” the statement read.
“All the different hoaxes, and the new one is, ‘President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk,’” Trump told the Arizona crowd. “No, no. That’s not happening.”
The president-elect praised his prominent ally, who reportedly donated $238.5 million to a pro-Trump political action committee, stating that Musk “went to Pennsylvania, and he stayed – stayed up there for a month, and helped us to win that state, which we won by a lot.”
“Isn’t it nice to have smart people we can rely on? Don’t we want that?” Trump asked the Turning Point audience.
The billionaire has been actively involved in the transition process and has publicly commented on electoral politics through his online posts on appointments.
Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have been appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new initiative aimed at reducing government waste and streamlining the federal bureaucracy.
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