President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that he is “safe” from the presidency of his billionaire tech best friend, Elon Musk, as he was “not born in this country. “
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s transition via email for comment and X, formerly Twitter, via email to solicit comment from Musk on Sunday afternoon.
Musk, owner of automaker Tesla and social media platform vocally and financially support his presidential campaign. .
Some Democratic lawmakers have suggested that Musk has more than DOGE’s future co-leader and is functioning as the de facto leader of the GOP after a bipartisan spending bill fell through this week following their public complaint about him. In an effort to criticize Musk’s obvious strength over the GOP, some Democrats on Capitol Hill referred to the tech billionaire as “president. “
During an appearance Sunday at the conservative organization Turning Point USA’s annual “AmericaFest” convention in Phoenix, Trump said Musk will “take over the presidency. “
Then he talked about some “hoaxes” that are spreading lately. “What’s new is that President Trump passed the presidency to Elon Musk. No, no, that is not happening,” he said.
“He’s not going to be president. That I can tell you. And I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be. He wasn’t born in this country,” the president-elect said minutes later about Musk with a chuckle.
A person cannot run for the presidency if they were not born in the United States. Musk was born in South Africa and became a U.S. citizen in 2002. So, Musk cannot be president unless the U.S. Constitution is amended to allow others besides natural-born citizens to qualify for the presidency.
Trump: [Elon Musk] will not be president. I can tell you that. I’m safe. Do you know why? It just can’t be. He was not born in this country pic. twitter. com/YpgcGZ0jF4
Musk responded “Yes” on Friday to a post about Trump’s ego. “It would be great to see Trump call them out on their ploy. “
Fox News & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones said Friday morning that he spoke with Trump and said the president’s continued mockery of “President Elon Musk” by Democratic members of Congress “doesn’t bother him. “
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt weighed in on the complaint suggesting Musk is calling the shots in comments to Business Insider: “As soon as President Trump released his official position on the CR [continuing resolution], Republicans on Capitol Hill They echoed his opinion. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party.
Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University, told Newsweek via social media direct message on Saturday morning of the possibility of Musk becoming president, “It’s not even an open question. Musk is ineligible. Full stop. And there’s a zero percent chance of an amendment.”
Philip Bobbitt, a distinguished senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in constitutional law, told Newsweek via email Saturday afternoon that there is no other way to interpret the citizenship qualification for the presidency.
“The text, the story and the precedents are all too clear. There may be an ‘ethical’ argument based on a commitment against discrimination, but arguments based on ethos are mainly arguments of constitutional culture,” he said.
When asked if there is any chance the Constitution could be amended to allow people other than natural-born citizens to qualify for the presidency, Bobbitt responded, “I would say it’s very unlikely that I would say so. “
While Musk cannot realistically become president, the verbal exchange over his obvious influence in the Republican Party offers a glimpse of the friction that would likely occur between some Democratic lawmakers and Musk’s second-term Trump.
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in October 2023. She is a graduate of The State University of New York at Oneonta. You can get in touch with Rachel by emailing [email protected]. Languages: English.