“It’s exactly like a parenting influencer using their kid to enhance their brand and to get attention”

Elon Musk carries his son X Æ A-Xii on his shoulders while speaking in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2025. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead federal cost-cutting efforts, said the United States would go "bankrupt" without budget cuts. Musk leads the efforts under the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and was speaking at the White House with Trump, who has in recent weeks unleashed a flurry of orders aimed at slashing federal spending. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Elon Musk carries his son X in the Oval Office on Feb. 11, 2025.Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

When Elon Musk appeared in the Oval Office on Feb. 11 alongside President Donald Trump to discuss his latest slashing of federal funding, he was joined by his four-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii, better known to the world as X. “Great guy,” Trump said of the toddler. “He’s a high IQ individual.” X, for his part, had his own agenda. “I need to go pee,” X could be heard whispering  to Trump as Musk spoke. Musk, an unelected government official, went on to call bureaucracy a “fourth unelected branch of government” as his son rubbed his eyes. Reactions to the press conference focused on how cute X is, with online commentators fawning over the toddler.

It’s not a coincidence that Musk, a ‘special government employee’ who is the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), brought his son into the Oval Office. Musk is the father of 12 known children and is dedicated to the cause of pronatalism, a movement which espouses the belief that having many children is not only a social imperative, but a necessity for the continuation of society. According to Musk, declining birth rates are “not just a crisis, but the crisis,” and he’s contributing to efforts to bring society back from the brink of collapse by having more children. Moreover, by accompanying his dad to work, X acted both as a shield for Musk as he faced reporters and an extension of Musk’s brand.

 

The appearance of X in the Oval Office can’t be viewed in isolation. “I see it as part of the very clear propaganda regime that is the Trump administration. They are very, very focused on optics and part of that is this ‘pro-family agenda,’” says Emily Armick, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and author of the New York Times-bestselling Democracy in Retrograde. When Musk brings his child into a professional work environment, the child functions as a prop, “to deflect from the obvious harm that he’s trying to inflict on the U.S. government and the American people.”  Musk’s appearance with his son comes amidst a barrage of news, including Musk cutting funding to federal agencies which have been investigating his companies and conflicts of interest that Senator Elizabeth Warren calls the size of “Mount Everest.”

 

“None of this was accidental,” said Jo Piazza, author and host of Under the Influence, a podcast examining the role of influencers in society. “Elon Musk is very clearly trying to make himself seem more human because right now, he’s one of the most hated figures in America. It’s exactly like a parenting influencer using their kid to enhance their brand and to get attention.” When Musk stands in the Oval Office with the President and his young son, he’s flaunting his brand as blatantly as any parent influencer, online creators who rely on their children and their status as parents to create content and gain views, fame, and sponsorships.

 

In the world of the parent influencer, everything is content and each interaction with a child is an opportunity to further your brand. Even a work meeting can be turned into content — like Musk and X in the Oval office. And it seems to have worked — videos and photos of X in the Oval Office went viral and for a moment, the attention on Musk was focused on his child, not on his haphazard slashing of federal funding or his conflicts of interest. At one point, Musk lifted his son on his shoulders. At another, the four-year-old appeared to pick his nose and wipe it on the Resolute Desk. Later, X leaned his head against the desk, prompting comparisons to a famous photo of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his father despite the fact that X’s dad, Musk, isn’t the President, or even an elected official.

Like any good parent influencer, Musk knows which child to center. Four-year-olds are gold for the algorithms that dictate an influencer’s life. The algorithm reacts more favorably to content with babies and toddlers, with that content generally performing better than content featuring older children. “I think that Elon Musk, in particular, knows very well how to cater to these algorithms,” Piazza said. “He chose the kid who was going to be the most camera-friendly for him in this situation.”

It’s not only the Oval Office that X has graced — he’s appeared at the Super Bowl, Capitol Hill meetings, and Mar-a-Lago with Musk. Expect to see X in more meetings and press conferences with his father — because like any parent looking to leverage their children’s lives for content and a reputational boost, Musk isn’t going to give up on something that works.