By "elite", I meant is he among the world's top players, or on trajectory to do so. I think he's on the elite side, though I don't see him getting to super GM.
@Cornfed, wake me when you realize that his US Championship victory was roughly nine months ago, and he's been playing at such a high level since. 
he is a GM... less than 0.1% Chess player be GM, yes, he is an elite...