Democrats are trying to get under President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters' skin by quipping that billionaire Elon Musk is the real leader of the Republican party.
The terms "President Elon" and "President Musk" were both trending on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, on Thursday and Friday—after Musk spoke out against a bipartisan spending bill that would have averted a looming government shutdown.
House Democrats began dubbing the alternate proposal—which was backed by Trump but failed to gain sufficient support as well—the "Trump-Musk" spending bill.
Musk, for his part, tried to distance himself from taking credit, saying that the new bill was due to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Trump, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.
But Musk's statements avoiding taking credit have done little to quell the jesting that emerged on the left in the wake of Musk's crusade—with critics jabbing that Musk has become the real leader of the Republican party, not Trump.
The left-wing trend has garnered a range of AI-generated images showing Trump being at the whims of Musk.
Critics are delighting in the idea that the new nickname would irk Trump, with one person arguing that "it's mostly true, and will piss Trump off to no end."
"I think Donald Trump will make a terrific press secretary for President Musk," swiped someone else.
A number of Democratic lawmakers are capitalizing on the trend, with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) sharing a number of the AI images, including one of Trump being puppeteered by Musk.
"It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump," echoed Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). "Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead."
Other lawmakers leaning into the trend include Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who jabbed that Trump is Musk's "puppet President-elect;" Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who said that Vance is Musk's vice president-elect; and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), who blasted that "President Elon Musk wants to shutdown the government so he can pave the way for massive tax cuts for him and his billionaire insiders."
And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) helped spur the term to trend, writing in two separate posts that the looming government shutdown was triggered by "President Musk."
"Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government," Sanders said. "The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government."
But Trump's public statement on the matter didn't quite help his case.
"As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop," incoming Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Business Insider.
"If you have to say it…." replied one poster.
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