How to Cover "Shadow President" Elon Musk
President Nixon had Henry Kissinger. President Kennedy had his brother, Robert. President Eisenhower had Sherman Adams. President Wilson had Colonel House.
While many presidents have had close advisors who exercised a great deal of influence, nothing comes close to the authority Elon Musk is wielding in the Trump administration. Musk, who was the president's biggest donor in the 2024 campaign, is also acknowledged as the richest man in the world.
After Trump put Musk in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ostensibly to rein in governmental costs, the tech billionaire has literally gone wild, initiating the closure of federal agencies and having his associates seize confidential data. Moreover, Musk is traveling abroad, making pronouncements about American foreign and domestic policy much like a sitting president would.
When TIME Magazine recently put on its front cover a picture of Musk seated behind the presidential desk in the White House, many Americans are asking "who is really in charge?"
For journalists and communicators, the question is how do cover a figure who is acting in many ways as a co-president?
"Covering Musk is made especially difficult because of the apparent dynamic set up by the White House whereby all of his actions are de facto sanctioned by a president who considers himself above reproach," says Ernest Wiggins, an independent scholar and professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism.
Wiggins adds that covering any part of the Trump administration is complicated by the White House's willingness to deceive, divert and misdirect the press.
He further points out that Trump himself seems to be keeping his distance from the actual DOGE investigations, which lets him claim the successes and disavow the disasters, as is his practice.
"This murkiness makes covering the White House difficult on a daily basis," Wiggins says. "I would think insisting on clarity about these communication streams would be essential but even that does not guarantee reporters would get accurate information."
Mark Perlman, an adjunct public relations professor at Columbia College Chicago, agrees with that assessment and urges reporters to reach out instead to members of Congress who control the purse strings for federal programs that Musk wants to cut.
“Journalists should focus, for example, on building relationships with the Senate Appropriations Committee members," he urges. "They will be the most direct source of information."
Noting that given his power in shaping and implementing the president's agenda, veteran journalist Richard Greb maintains that while its fair game to approach members of Congress, reporters still have an obligation to cover Musk and compare his actions to Trump's positioning on the issues.
"Reporters also need to ask him tougher questions and follow up on his responses,” Greb says. "Too often he states things that just aren't true about the amount of waste in federal agencies for instance and needs to be held to account."
