USA: Donald Trump denies excessive influence from Elon Musk

The soon-to-be US President Donald Trump has rejected criticism that his confidant Elon Musk has too much influence and is the actual decision-maker in his team. “He’s not going to be president, I can tell you that,” Trump said at an event in Phoenix, Arizona.

A number of politicians had previously expressed fears that Musk’s political influence was too great. The reason for this was the passage of the US budget in Congress. There, Trump and Musk had an agreement republican and Democrats torpedoed an interim budget, which meant that an impending partial default could only just be averted. Musk is calling for a drastic reduction in government spending and is supposed to head an agency on Trump’s behalf that is supposed to develop proposals for this.

“Welcome to the presidency of Elon Musk”

The billionaire’s role in the budget negotiations provoked significant criticism. The left-wing senator Bernie Sanders referred to him as “President Musk”. Representative Don Beyer also wrote: “The Republicans are following his orders. This is crazy.” Rep. Nydia Velazquez said Trump and Republican lawmakers had “kowtied to the actual president-elect, Elon Musk.” Representative Robert Garcia wrote: “Welcome to the presidency of Elon Musk.”

Republicans were also critical. “From what I know, Elon Musk has no right to vote in Congress,” Republican Representative Rich McCormick told CNN. “Now he has influence and is putting pressure on us to do what he thinks is right for him. But 760,000 people elected me to do what is right for them.”

In Phoenix Musk’s proximity to him, Trump explained that he likes to surround himself “with intelligent people.” In the past he had called Musk a “genius” several times. The billionaire couldn’t become president anyway because “he wasn’t born in this country,” said Trump. The head of the car manufacturer Tesla and the space company SpaceX is a native of South Africa.

Largest individual donor in US election history

Musk supported Trump during the election campaign and funded his campaign with around $270 million. This made him the largest single donor in US election history. He spent election night with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf club, and since then Trump has often appeared with Musk at his side.

The billionaire is also said to have played an active role in putting together Trump’s cabinet and filling other key positions. He also repeatedly threatened Republican MPs who opposed Trump to finance their challengers in the 2026 congressional election.

In addition to the president-elect, Musk himself has rejected criticism of his influence on Trump. Here’s how he shared a post on Friday Xwhose statement was that Democrats were intentionally trying to drive a wedge between him and Trump by questioning Trump’s leadership. “You will fail”, wrote Musk.

Musk supports Farage in Great Britain and AfD in Germany

Musk not only supports Trump, but also right-wing populist politicians and parties in other countries – so far not financially, but verbally. Last week he met British politician Nigel Farage, who was one of the main supporters of Brexit, at Mar-a-Lago. According to Farage Musk is also planning a major donation to his Reform UK party. Musk has not yet confirmed this, but publicly declared his support for Farage. The billionaire has repeatedly described Britain as an authoritarian state in which freedom of expression has been abolished, in line with the stance of Farage’s party.

Musk has also expressed support for right-wing politics in Germany. He wrote several times on X in the past few days: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” He described Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) as an “incompetent fool” and called for his resignation after the attack in Magdeburg. He called the AfD the “only hope for Germany” and wrotethe party’s program does not sound “extremist” but “identical” to the former program of US President Barack Obama. However, it remained unclear what the AfD’s specific demands were.