President-elect Donald Trump addressed the crowd at the Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday, dismissing claims that entrepreneur Elon Musk was taking control of the presidency, a notion pushed by some Democrats.

Democrats had been referring to Musk as “President Musk” after the billionaire, known for his leadership of SpaceX, Tesla, and X (formerly Twitter), publicly opposed a massive spending bill in Congress last week, which helped block it.

In an attempt to drive a wedge between Trump and Musk, Democrats have tried to highlight any differences between the two:

After Trump joked about the creation of a new “Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk,” he quickly clarified the rumors.

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. 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? Don’t we want that? He’s done a great job.

Trump continued by recalling SpaceX’s impressive achievement of catching a rocket booster using two large “chopsticks,” a moment that has become a frequent talking point for him on the campaign trail.

He then acknowledged Musk’s contributions to his success in Pennsylvania during the election, as well as Musk’s aid in providing free Starlink satellite internet to assist victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

“It save a lot of lives, so we want to thank him,” he added.

Trump also expressed that he felt no threat from Musk’s alleged presidential aspirations, saying, “He can’t be [president]. He wasn’t born in this country. Ha-ha.”

“He’s a great guy — we want to have him,” Trump concluded.

{Matzav.com}