Why Elon Musk is 'US President' and not Trump in the meme world: What's going on?

A wave of posts related to 'President Musk' has captured social media after Democrats alleged that Tesla CEO and DOGE leader Elon Musk is leading the GOP and is the real president, rather than US president-elect Donald Trump. A number of hilarious memes have surfaced online, showing Musk's power.

One X user, The Lincoln Project, posted a video calling 'Trump' the "vice president" and Musk the "president." The video also mentions Trump "admiring the assets of other men," hinting towards Musk. The user captioned the video, "Everyone knows who is running this show: President-elect Musk."

Another X user shared an AI image showing Trump sitting on a small chair in the office, while Musk sits on a larger chair in the back. The user wrote, "Who did this?" while posting the meme.

In another AI image, Trump bows down on his knees in front of Elon, who is dressed in king's attire and sitting on a chair. The user who shared the image wrote, "BREAKING: Reports are growing that Trump is irate over people seeing Elon Musk as the real president. Trump would HATE it if this photo went viral."

In a similar photo, Trump is seen bowing down in front of Musk, who is sitting on a chair with his back turned. Musk is in a black suit this time. The photo was captioned, "So MAGA, is this the tough guy you voted for? #PresidentMusk."

One user shared an image of Trump with DOGE leaders Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, calling them billionaires who "saved America from our own government." "There are 756 billionaires in the United States. Yesterday, 3 of them saved America from our own government. A HUGE THANK YOU to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy," the tweet reads.

A post showed Musk walking Trump as his pet.

Another tweet shows Trump, dressed as a waiter, bringing a plate of food for Musk.

In one post, Musk is steering the car, with JD Vance sitting beside him and Trump in the back seat.

One tweet shows Trump taking extra duties for Musk.

Leaders who called Elon 'President Musk'

'President Musk' memes went viral after several Democratic politicians criticised Elon Musk's alleged influence over Republican spending negotiations, which led to a potential government shutdown. These leaders referred to Musk as "president" in their statements.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) questioned Musk’s understanding of the consequences of a shutdown during a House floor speech. "Imagine. What does he know about what people go through when the government shuts down? Are his employees furloughed? Hell no! Is he furloughed? No!" she said. DeLauro also referred to Musk as "president," suggesting that Republicans were intimidated by him. "And you know what? They got scared because President Musk told them, President Musk said don’t do it," she added.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton linked the potential shutdown to Republicans "taking orders from the world’s richest man." She wrote on X, "If you're just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world's richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays, stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dismissed a revised spending proposal, calling it "laughable." "The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious... Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown," Jeffries told FOX News.

Representative Jamie Raskin also criticised Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's involvement, saying, "Everybody agreed, but it was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government. And that’s just an intolerable way of proceeding." He added, "Democrats are going to try to figure out how we can salvage the public good from the wreckage that's just been pushed," according to FOX News.

Government shutdown averted

The House of Representatives passed a government funding bill with a 366-34 vote, aimed at preventing a partial government shutdown. The bill was approved after intense negotiations and criticism from both Trump and Musk, who argued that the initial version was excessively "bloated."

Earlier, a shutdown seemed imminent as House Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement on a short-term spending bill before the Friday night deadline. According to FOX News, Musk reportedly threatened to support primary challengers against Republicans who backed the previous spending deal.