Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich isn’t buying the media narrative that Elon Musk is a real threat to President Trump’s power. On Fox News Thursday night, Gingrich torched the press for casting the escalating feud between the two heavyweights as some kind of battle for control.
“It’s a public relations struggle. There’s no power struggle here. One of them is president. The other one isn’t,” Gingrich said bluntly during his appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “And I think that’s part of what the media doesn’t quite get.”
Gingrich acknowledged Musk’s brilliance and business success but reminded viewers that America isn’t run by billionaires, no matter how loud they are on social media. “Henry Ford didn’t end up running the country. Thomas Edison didn’t end up running the country,” he noted. “And Elon Musk is not going to run the country.”
The feud erupted earlier this week when Musk publicly attacked Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” claiming it didn’t actually cut the national debt and calling it “a disgusting abomination.” Trump hit back, saying Musk only turned sour after learning the bill eliminated EV mandates—one of Musk’s cash cows.
Gingrich dismissed Musk’s criticisms as uninformed, saying the bill is a vital first step in turning around America’s bloated government. “This bill does more to turn the curve on spending,” Gingrich said, touting its domestic cuts and Medicaid reforms. He even jabbed the Congressional Budget Office, calling it a “bastion of idiotic left-wing thinking” for ignoring the bill’s growth potential.
“If Musk really knew the bill, rather than just reacting with personality feelings, he might actually like it,” Gingrich added.
The former Speaker also addressed Musk’s short-lived role in the Trump administration. After the 2024 election, Trump had tapped the Tesla CEO to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, hoping to harness his business chops to slash federal waste. But Musk’s time in office was turbulent from the start. He faced relentless opposition from the left—especially after dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development—and stepped down in May.
Now outside the administration, Musk has turned into a vocal critic of Trump’s legislative agenda, while Trump seems mostly uninterested in taking the bait.
“Elon Musk is somewhere around priority number 27 for the president,” Gingrich quipped. “Trump’s got serious things to do.”
The media, according to Gingrich, is obsessing over the wrong story. They see two public figures trading barbs and think it’s about power. But only one of them was elected to lead the country—and that man is Donald J. Trump.
While Musk flexes his influence in the business and tech world, Trump is focused on policy. From reining in government spending to pushing America First reforms overseas, Gingrich says the president is keeping his eye on what matters.
“Elon might run Twitter. He might run Tesla. But he’s not running America,” Gingrich concluded.
And judging by the president’s silence since the dustup, that’s exactly how Trump plans to keep it.
