Tech journalist Kara Swisher summed up Elon Musk’s live address from the Oval Office on Tuesday by saying that the X owner wants to be the center of attention even more than Donald Trump.
“He never met a camera he didn’t want to jump in front of,” Swisher told Jake Tapper on CNN. “I think he beats Trump out in terms of wanting to have press look at him. He wants to be the center of attention.”
She continued, saying that by being front-and-center in discussions about the newly created DOGE — Department of Government Efficiency — Musk is acting like a “heat shield” for the president, which only benefits Trump.
Watch the segment below:
“It’s good for Trump … It seems like a heat shield from what [Musk is] doing, and so he can say, ‘Oh, me, do I have detractors,’ and all that stuff … I think that’s what they’re trying to do, let him do all the dirty work, and then Trump can say, ‘Well, he’s a genius, and he’s trying to save the American people from costs.’”
The media analyst predicted that both Trump and Musk would continue their “twin narratives.”
On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace also weighed in on Musk taking center stage in the new administration while a guest observed how rare it was to see Trump watching someone else speak at such great length.
Among the things that Musk discussed in his speech was the need to remove “unelected” players from the U.S. government, which prompted Wallace to comment, “Irony died while he was talking.”
