Evidently purturbed by talk of key financial backer Elon Musk effectively running his administration before he's even in the White House, president-elect Donald Trump called the talk a "hoax" at a rally this weekend.
"No, he's not taking the presidency," Trump told the audience in Phoenix. "All the different hoaxes. The new one is that President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk. No, no, that's not happening."
Trump felt obliged to address the public role that Twitter owner Musk took last week in torpedoing a bipartisan government funding bill. Musk openly threatened Republican congresspeople who voted for it and, evidently, got his way. He also took it upon himself to speak for Trump, having drawn attention to his role in condemning the hard-negotiated bill.
"President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop, " Trump's political press secreatary, Karoline Leavitt, told Business Insider.
An alternative bill revised to Musk's preferences failed to pass, and Congress ultimately passed one more like the original at the last moment.
Musk was named by Trump as one of two men to head up an unofficial "Department of Government Efficiency," but perhaps Musk didn't get the memo about the unofficial part. Friendly media cast Trump's remarks as a "joke," while hostile outlets pointed out that Elon had already forced him into the weak position of making denials—all before he's even sworn in.
"That Trump would be compelled to address Musk's power is testimony to the unusual influence that the world's richest man has displayed in a second Trump presidency that will not begin for another month," wrote Bloomberg News.
CNN described the political dynamic as Democrats working Trump's vanity, with an eye to the long history of cronies and collaborators who have been frozen out after outshining him.
One big difference between Musk and the other exes: Musk is not only a real cash billionaire, but his financing of Trump's campaign played a key role in getting him a second term in office. He doesn't need to be paid, cannot be bought off, and clearly considers himself the prime mover, if not as Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas put it on Sunday, "our prime minister."