Elon Musk Blasts ‘Legacy Media Puppets’ Trying To Tear Him and Trump Apart with ‘President Elon’ Talking Points

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Elon Musk accused “legacy media puppets” of trying to drive a “wedge” between him and President-elect Donald Trump as critics question the pair’s power dynamic amid budget chaos on Capitol Hill.

A number of Democrats have taken to questioning whether Musk is truly in charge after led the charge to oppose an initial spending bill supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that would have avoided a government shutdown. A second bill, supported by Musk and Trump, later failed to pass through the House, leaving lawmakers scrambling at the 11th hour.

Musk’s Friday message was in response to an X user highlighting a post from Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) in which she claimed Musk was more in charge of Republicans than Trump, calling him the “shadow president.”

“It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump,” she wrote. “Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead.”

The tweet included an image of Musk in the Oval Office.

“That is exactly the goal,” Musk wrote in response to X user Lulu Cheng Meservey saying the specific “language” from Jayapal and others is to create “tension” between Trump and one of his most vocal and financially successful supporters.

Musk vowed that attempts to drive a “wedge” into his relationship with the president-elect “will fail.”

“The political & legacy media puppets all got their new instructions yesterday and are now parroting the same message to drive a wedge between [Donald Trump] and me,” the X owner wrote. “They will fail.”