Trump has made it clear that Musk cannot become the U.S. president, emphasizing this on several occasions. The main reason is that according to the U.S. Constitution, the president must be a citizen born in the United States, and Musk was born in South Africa, thus legally ineligible to hold the presidency.
Furthermore, although there is a certain cooperative relationship between Musk and Trump, such as Musk being appointed to lead a department aimed at increasing government efficiency, cutting costs, and deregulation, Trump insists that this does not mean Musk will replace him or attain the presidency. Trump also mentioned that the claim about him 'giving' the presidency to Musk is false rumor, and his high regard for Musk does not change this fact.
Although Musk is not a U.S. born citizen and cannot become president, his influence on the United States is indeed very significant, especially in how he expresses opinions through his social platform X (formerly Twitter) and impacts policies. At the same time, Musk is also one of the largest individual donors in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, which has a non-negligible effect on the election.