Time Magazine has unveiled its February cover, featuring Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, according to Forbes, with a net worth of 403.7 billion US dollars, sitting at the desk of the US President.
The issue is set to be released on February 24. The businessman is seated at the Resolute Desk, the desk used by Presidents in the Oval Office of the White House, with an American flag and the flag of the President of the United States visible behind him. The news agency wrote: “No citizen, particularly no one whose wealth and business are under the direct control of the federal government, has ever exerted such power over the US government apparatus. Until now, it seems that Musk is accountable to no one except President Trump, who has given his campaign donor a broad mandate to align the government with his agenda.”
In December, the Washington Post referred to Musk as a “shadow president.”
After Donald Trump took office, Musk took over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In an article for the Wall Street Journal following the election, he promised that the DOGE would help Trump assemble a “team of knights” to establish a “massive rollback of the federal bureaucracy.”
John Voorhees, the director of the security service of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and his deputy were put on leave after they refused to grant the DOGE access to the secure areas of the agency where sensitive information is stored. Following his inauguration, Trump ordered a near-complete freeze of US foreign aid. Musk said he had spoken with Trump about the closure of USAID and that Trump had agreed to it.