President Donald Trump did a remarkable thing earlier this week: He let Elon Musk take reporters’ questions about the Department of Government Efficiency live from the Oval Office.
While Musk’s son ultimately stole the show, Trump sat at the Resolute Desk while his tech billionaire ally defended DOGE, a government-cutting project currently dominating the headlines, from media criticism. Though White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt subsequently said she would be happy to have Musk in the briefing room, he didn’t sound like he was ready to compete for her job anytime soon.
It’s long been conventional wisdom that there is only one star of the Donald Trump Show and the only rule in his freewheeling political world is “don’t upstage the boss.” Yet the constant complaints that Musk is the shadow president or the unelected power behind the throne have not created a rift with Trump.
In the sequel to his first term, Trump has been perfectly willing to share the spotlight. Musk is a unique case. The richest man in the world and recent convert to conservatism — Musk is fond of posting videos of Milton Friedman, the Nobel laureate economist who was many a young conservative and libertarian’s entry point to the free-market gospel — was especially helpful to Trump in last year’s presidential election. Musk and conservative activist Charlie Kirk were up against an experienced Democratic field operation and, based on the results in all seven battleground states, at least held their own.
But it isn’t just Musk. Vice President JD Vance has kept up a brisk pace of interviews since taking office. At one point during the campaign, he made more than seven times as many such appearances as both members of the Democratic ticket combined. On the night they were elected, Trump singled out Vance to praise for his performance on cable networks Republicans generally deem hostile.
Trump’s Cabinet is stocked with proven television communicators, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Attorney General Pam Bondi to newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. When Gabbard was sworn in, Trump asked the group of reporters if they had any questions. As they shouted them out, Trump said, “You know what, I’d like to have Tulsi say a few words first, and then we could answer a couple of questions.”
When Trump first ran for president and for a while after he was elected, he often seemed unsure what to do while standing behind someone else speaking at the podium. In just the past few days, Trump looked comfortable standing next to former hostage Marc Fogel as he made emotional post-release remarks at the White House, at one point putting his hand on Fogel’s back. The famous germaphobe even sat quietly as Musk’s young son picked his nose by the Resolute Desk.
Trump has always valued telegenic talkers in staffing his administrations. He has had tough White House press secretaries who liked mixing it up with reporters before Leavitt. At least two are now star pundits and one is a state governor. A major part of Kellyanne Conway’s job in the first White House was going on television to defend the president, often racking up Hatch Act violations in the process.
But it was always clear who the leading man was. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon did not last long in the West Wing amid coverage characterizing him as Trump’s brain, though he has remained an important ally on the outside. Nor did TV chops always work out as hiring criteria, based on Trump’s breaks with John Bolton and Anthony Scaramucci.
Of course, these things could all happen again with the new supporting cast soon enough. Trump has been back in office for less than two months. But the 2024 campaign went on for a long time with relatively little drama by Trumpian standards. Trump seems comfortable and confident, while his team feels invested.
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In 2017, Trump was still a relative political neophyte, albeit one who won the presidency on his first run for office. Moreover, most of his political relationships were new. Karl Rove and George W. Bush, Valerie Jarrett and Barack Obama, they went back years. Kellyanne Conway knew Trump longer than most and she had worked for a pro-Ted Cruz super PAC earlier in the same election cycle.
Trump’s relationships are deeper now after nearly a decade at the top of Republican politics. There is no question he is the political force responsible for the changes sweeping the country. He is also in the market for a successor, since he will soon be term-limited out of office. Letting people audition and compete Apprentice-style is a Trump-like way to find one.