Time magazine has revealed the cover of its latest edition, showing billionaire Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the White House’s Oval Office.
Musk, the wealthiest person on earth, is seen holding a beverage in one hand as he peers out from behind the iconic desk, used by U.S. presidents since the late 1880s.
An accompanying article titled “Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington” covers Musk’s reshaping of America’s government since his appointment as the head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“No single private citizen, certainly not one whose wealth and web of businesses are directly subject to the oversight of federal authorities, has wielded such power over the machinery of the U.S. government,” the article states.
The multibillionaire tech and media mogul “has been deputized to dismantle vast swaths of the federal bureaucracy — slashing budgets, gutting the civil service, and stripping independent agencies of the ability to impede the President’s objectives,” it goes on.
This extreme appointment of power follows Musk being a loyal supporter and campaign donor to Trump, spending at least $288 million to help secure his reelection, according to a recent analysis by The Washington Post.
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Since his election success, Trump has granted Musk widespread access to his inner orbit and the federal government’s spending, raising numerous ethics questions, including about the multibillion-dollar contracts that Musk’s businesses have with the federal government.
In the weeks since his arrival, Musk has assisted with the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which he has publicly called “a criminal organization,” and he has been given access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system and the Small Business Administration.
Musk has been labeled by the White House as a “special government employee.” He is not paid and is not full time, according to the ethics rules of such a title, but he does have top secret security clearance, a source told CNN.