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Don Lemon was caught in a verbal war against a TikToker over Elon Musk’s influence on President-elect Donald Trump.
The ex-CNN host spoke to various people in New York City over the weekend about the claim Democrats were pushing that the X CEO was the shadow “President Musk” over Trump based on Musk leading an online conservative opposition to a bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown.
“Who is the real president-elect, you think?” Lemon asked.
“Donald Trump won, I believe,” TikToker and former pro-soccer player Will John replied.
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon spoke with TikToker Will John on whether Elon Musk would be considered the real president. (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
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“Democratic lawmakers in Washington are calling Elon Musk now, and they’re saying Donald Trump is the vice president or the head of communication,” Lemon followed up.
“What? Wait a second, no. No one said that,” John said.
Lemon interrupted, “Really? Have you not paid attention—”
“Absolutely not. I’m paying attention to what I’m doing during my day, so I can try and get a better life and get ahead,” John said.
Lemon then told John to look up “President Musk” on his phone to prove his point, to which John obliged.
“That’s already a loaded question you realize,” John remarked while looking.
John found reports from Axios, Business Insider, ABC News, Washington Post, New York Times and The Atlantic using the term “President Musk,” which Lemon considered a win.
“We don’t trust any of these. The common man doesn’t trust any of this,” John fired back. “I don’t trust any of these. I don’t trust any of them. I don’t trust any of these. We’re the common man. We don’t trust any of these. No one trusts the government. No one trusts the common news. We don’t trust any of that anymore. Independent news, we are the ones that own the news now. People trust me. They don’t trust MSNBC because I care, and I’m actually one of them.”
“I can’t disagree with you,” Lemon admitted.
Democratic lawmakers and media pundits have pushed the name “President Musk” based on Musk’s opposition to a bipartisan government funding bill. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Lemon asked other pedestrians the same question to mixed results on his TikTok account.
“I haven’t seen that personally. I think that’s odd that he’s in that position of power for people to call him that. I don’t know if he is the best person to be representing us in our government,” one woman responded.
“I mean that’s just internet chatter,” another woman said. “I think Elon Musk wasn’t in the last election, so how could he be president-elect?”
A third woman said, “Well, not in an election-style, but obviously he’s influencing the government.”
“How much longer do you think Donald Trump is going to put up with someone calling Elon Musk President Musk?” Lemon followed up.
“Forever. He’s putting money out there. He likes money,” the woman replied.
A man said he had actually heard the term “President Musk,” though he argued Musk was the vice president-elect while Trump was still president-elect. However, he said that will change.
“He’s lost. He’s gone. Musk is even worse, cheerleading this guy on like, politically, man. It’s over. Life in America is over. Just watch what they do,” he said.
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Several liberal media pundits like Lemon also insisted Musk was either co-president or president himself over Trump.
“Elon Musk, the guy who really runs things. He’s not just Trump’s co-president. I think that’s way too low a title,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said during his monologue on Wednesday. “He’s the head dude in charge and House Republicans certainly know who they are taking their marching orders from.”
Lemon pressed pedestrians on whether they believed Musk was the real president-elect. (Getty Images)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman and incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt threw cold water on the media talking point.
“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,” she said.
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Fox News’ Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
