Donald Trump has had an interesting response to people calling Elon Musk 'president'.
Despite Musk being appointed the head of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), some Democrats have been referring to him as 'President Musk' instead.
For example, Representative Jim McGovern said: “At least we know who's in charge. He's president, and Trump is now vice president.”
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While Robert Garcia wrote: “Welcome to the Elon Musk presidency.”
Others have questioned the level of Musk's influence in Trump's government, with Democratic Whip Katherine Clark adding: “Here we are once again in chaos... And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, 'We're not doing this deal', and Donald Trump followed along.”
During a recent chat with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Musk and Trump responded to claims that some people are describing Musk as 'president'.
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Hannity said: "They want you to start hating each other... 'President Elon Musk', for example. You do know that they're doing that to you?"
Trump responded: "I see it all the time... they have many different things... of hatred.
“Actually, Elon called me. He said, 'You know, they're trying to drive us apart'. I said 'Absolutely'.”
Trump also spoke about the relationship he has with Musk, adding: “Well, I respect him. I’ve always respected him. I never knew that he was right on certain things, and I’m usually pretty good at this stuff. He did Starlink. He did things that were so advanced and nobody knew what the hell they were.
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“I think, you know, something that had an effect on me was when I saw the rocket ship come back and get grabbed like you grab a beautiful little baby. You grab your baby.”
Trump and Musk also discussed the NASA astronauts 'stranded' in space, claiming the reason Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore are still on the International Space Station is 'political'.
The SpaceX CEO said he was 'accelerating the return of the astronauts' after it was 'postponed to a ridiculous degree', with Trump adding: "They got left in space."
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The comments are thought to be a further swipe at Joe Biden, with Musk claiming the reason the pair have spent so long on the ISS was 'for political reasons, which is not good'.
Musk said that the astronauts would be returning in around four weeks' time, with the president adding: “They didn’t have the go-ahead with Biden. He was going to leave them in space. I think he was going to leave them in space... He didn’t want the publicity. Can you believe it?”
Both Williams and Wilmore have spoken out about the claims that they were 'abandoned' on the ISS.
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Speaking to CNN earlier this month, Wilmore said: “We don’t feel abandoned. We don’t feel stuck. We don’t feel stranded. I understand why others may think that. We come prepared. We come committed.”
Meanwhile, in a previous interview with CBS, Williams added: “I don’t think those words are quite accurate… We are part of something bigger than ourselves, we are part of the International Space Station. So no, we don’t feel abandoned, we feel like we are part of the team and that’s a huge honour.”
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Politics, US News
Lucy Devine