On Tuesday, February 11, Donald Trump made a joint appearance with Elon Musk at the Oval Office, He signed an executive order to continue downsizing the federal workforce, thus offering the billionaire more power in his administration.
While interacting with the media, Musk stated that while there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, they still need to be held accountable.
A reporter mentioned that his actions are being labelled as “hostile takeover” and “non-transparent,” to which he replied, “You couldn’t ask for a stronger mandate from the public. We have to have a majority of the public vote voting for President Trump. We won the house. We won the Senate.”
He added, “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get.”
President @realDonaldTrump, @elonmusk, and X take questions from the press in the Oval Office 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Nt8rTwgje0
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) February 11, 2025
During the entire interaction, Elon Musk’s son X Æ A-Xii (also known as X), was sitting beside him. At one point, he stood up and walked towards Donald Trump. While Musk continued answering the media’s questions, his son was seen picking his nose, which is quite normal for any child of his age.
X’s presence at the official press briefing and signing of the executive order is garnering mixed reactions from people. While some praised Musk for being a hands-on dad, others accused him of using his son as a “prop”.
An Internet user wrote, “It’s so awesome to see his little boy and showing his son how work is done , show work ethics, and spending time with dad , and showing patience.”
Another person added, “So glad to see a real dad. So glad Musk and Trump working together.”
However, a person wrote in YouTube comments, “The kid was used as a prop.” An X user wrote, “My concern is for Musk’s little son. Why is he subjected to being a prop for his Dad?.”
“Using his son as a prop. Elon Musk doesn’t belong in U.S. government,” reads a similar tweet.
“If the people cannot vote and have their will be decided by their elected representatives, by the form of the President, the Senate, and the House, then we don’t live in a democracy; we live in a bureaucracy.” –@ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/5j1ChLei8x
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 11, 2025
While people have polarized views over X’s presence at the White House, Donald Trump definitely doesn’t mind it. Even when X was picking his nose at an arm’s distance from Trump, the president didn’t even flinch or feel annoyed. He briefly looked at the kid once and then focused on answering brutal questions from the media.
As Musk addressed how he’ll handle situations when there’s a conflict of interest between the administration and his companies, Trump added, “We would not let him do that segment or look into that area if we thought there was a lack of transparency or conflict of interest. He is a big businessman. He’s a successful guy. That’s why we want him doing this. We don’t want an unsuccessful guy doing this.”
Donald Trump then signed an executive order to reduce the federal workforce. The White House fact sheet on the order stated that “agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law.”
It further mentioned that the agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service.”
