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| - In December 2024, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump addressed AmericaFest in Phoenix, an alleged screenshot (archived) of a Truth Social post circulated online, gathering more than 300,000 views.
(X user @iamchanteezy)
The post read:
Let me clear something up right now: I am the President-elect of the United States. Not Elon Musk. Not anyone else. I know the media (the FAKE NEWS) and even some of you out there keep saying things like "Elon's really running the show," but let me tell you—this is MY vision, MY leadership, and MY America we're talking about. Now, I'll admit it, Elon was helpful during the campaign. He donated a lot of money— HUGE sums. And I appreciated it, I really did. But lately, it feels like he's forgotten one thing: I'M the guy in charge. Not him. Sure, he's great at rockets, cars, maybe even X (well, sort of), but politics? That's MY game, folks. The constant confusion, people joking about him being "President" while I'm just the Vice President? NO. Wrong. Totally wrong. It's a distraction, and frankly, it's disrespectful. This is about the American people, not about Elon Musk's ego. So, Elon, I'll say this: thank you for the support, but it's time for you to stay in your lane. I'm focused on making this country greater than ever before. The world will see who's in charge on January 20th. MAGA!
However, as acknowledged by one X user who shared the supposed screenshot, the post is fake. A search on Trump's Truth, a site that archives all posts on Truth Social by the president-elect, showed no genuine version of the post. The post was also not found in searches on Trump's Facebook and or accounts.
Discussion about the power balance between Musk and Trump had been ongoing since at least the end of November (archived). In early December (archived), various (archived) posts (archived) featuring the phrase "President Musk" circulated online.
The phrase was picked up by the likes of Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman (archived) and former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger (archived).
Indeed, Trump addressed the discussion during his AmericaFest speech on Dec. 22 (at the 1:02:39 mark in the video).
We will create the new Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk. And no, he's not taking the presidency. I like having smart people. You know, they're on a new kick: Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, all the different hoaxes and the new one is: "President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk." No. No. That's not happening. But Elon's done an amazing job. Isn't it nice to have smart people that we can rely on?
After further praising Musk for his work supplying Starlink to disaster-hit areas of the U.S., Trump added: "But no, he's not going to be president, that I can tell you. And I'm safe, you know why? He can't be, he wasn't born in this country."
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