Elon’s son tells Trump “SHɄT UP,” “YOU’RE NØT THE PRɆSIDENT” | HO

Unpacking claims Musk’s son told Trump to ‘shush’ and ‘go away’

The impromptu “Take Your Kid to Work Day” at the White House sparked popular posts about what the 4-year-old said.

Image courtesy of Getty Images

On Feb. 11, 2025, tech billionaire Elon Musk took his 4-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii — whom he calls X — to a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump where they discussed a new executive order related to the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

X caught the internet’s attention within a few minutes of the news conference; hundreds of users across multiple platforms claimed he said, “You’re not the president … you need to go away,” or something similar. Later, people claimed he said, “I want you to shush your mouth.” Several such posts received millions of views.

The truth is that it’s not possible to hear the entirety of what X said, and it’s unclear exactly where he was looking while speaking. Musk’s voice masked the audio of his son’s voice, and what X said is only partially discernible.

The first claim of this two part claim — that he said “you’re not the president … you need to go away” (at minute 1:48) — is not an accurate claim. The only words we can accurately confirm are “to go away.” Although he appeared to look at Trump at first, his gaze drifted while he spoke.

The second part to this claim — that he said “I want you to shush your mouth” (at minute 19:14) — may be partially accurate. While it does sound like he said “I want you to shush your mouth,” he was not looking at Trump at any point while saying this, but beyond him, likely where reporters stood. The only person audibly speaking at the time was Musk.

We ran the audio through audio-splitting software Vocal Remover and reached the same results.

In conclusion, at this time there is simply no way to determine the entirety of what X said or to whom he said it.