In a move that seemed designed to make Donald Trump resentful, the cover of Time magazine’s latest issue features Elon Musk sitting behind the president’s desk in the Oval Office.
On Friday, Time magazine released their new cover art with Musk sitting at the Resolute Desk and the internet went wild with people — including journalists like Mehdi Hasan — predicting that Trump was going to have his ego bruised by the image.
While Trump has had nothing but praise for Musk, it wasn’t long before he lashed out by being critical of the magazine. At a press conference with the prime minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, a reporter asked if he had “a reaction to the new Time magazine cover that has Elon Musk sitting behind your resolute desk?”
“No. Is Time magazine still in business? I didn't even know that,” Trump sarcastically replied before going on to say, “Elon is going a great job.”
This isn’t an unusual response from a president who has no compunction about lashing out at the press, like calling the newspaper of record the “failing New York Times” when it’s been critical of Trump in the past.
While it’s impossible to know exactly how Trump will react, we do have some precedence to pull from. During Trump’s first attempt at running the country, Steven Bannon went from being Trump’s right-hand man to being left out in the cold after he appeared on the cover of the biweekly magazine. MSNBC reports that he left the White House amid rumors that Trump was annoyed after Bannon landed on the cover of Time with the magazine asking, “Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World?”
The image of Musk sitting in the president’s seat quickly went viral on social media, with people posting that Trump was likely to be angry with it being implied that he is merely Musk’s puppet.
Over the course of the last few weeks, Elon Musk has gone from a campaign contributor and Trump cheerleader to quickly infiltrating every corner of the U.S. government with no oversight, and now, it’s not just critics on social media who are saying Musk is the real president, a well-respected magazine is implying it too.
The illustrated cover teases the cover story titled “Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington” and documents Musk’s effort to overhaul the government since Trump took office on January 20. This is the second time the billionaire tech CEO has graced the magazine's cover. Back in November, the cover and feature article implied that Musk was a "kingmaker" for financially supporting Trump's bid for president, CNN reports.
Musk may have realized he needed to do some damage control since Trump has a history of ousting people who try to take his spotlight because the Tesla CEO took to X (formerly Twitter) to kiss the metaphorical ring, in the weirdest "no-homo" way possible. “I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man,” Musk posted, also responding to Trump's post that he plans to sign an executive order to get rid of paper straws by writing, “Greatest President ever!”
So will Musk meet the same fate as Bannon? Only time will tell!
Keep scrolling to see the funniest reactions to Elon Musk’s Time magazine cover!
