Just two weeks ago, the headline would seem improbable: “Musk Spikes Budget Bill.”
What does the world’s richest man have to do with legislation that would stop a government shutdown? It’s a good question that some congressional Republicans are finally starting to ask as they try to navigate the looming kleptocracy led by a power-hungry Willy Wonka who’s gobbled up all the golden tickets.
Georgia Republican congressman Rich McCormick, all but inviting a primary opponent, called Musk out for his social media posts that helped sink a continuing resolution that would’ve prevented a government shutdown.
“This is a leadership challenge that Mike Johnson has to define himself with. Are you going to get the right input from the right people to get this bill passed?” McCormick told CNN Thursday night.
“Because, quite frankly, you can’t do it in a vacuum. And it doesn’t matter because, quite frankly, last time I checked, Elon Musk doesn’t have a vote in Congress.”
McCormick’s comments reflect a growing concern over Musk’s outsized influence on the president-elect, who abruptly changed his mind on a 1,500-page bill he previously supported. Musk’s posts on his social platform X indicated he was opposed to the continuing resolution because it would increase the national debt.
The Tesla founder and Twitter/X owner has been appointed by Donald Trump to co-chair the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), which aims to reduce federal spending.
While some have welcomed Musk’s interference, Sen. Rand Paul said he should be named Speaker of the House, a suggestion championed by Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene –– there’s a growing consensus the tech billionaire has overstepped.
“The neophytes should not be setting the agenda,” National Review columnist Noah Rothman stated in a recent column. “Musk would benefit from the humility that accompanies acknowledged ignorance.”
Musk’s campaign to torpedo the bill played out through hundreds of frenzied posts on X, filled with hyperbole and fueled by threats. He called the deal negotiated by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) “an outrage,” deriding it as “criminal” and “madness.” Supporters of the bill were deemed traitors who risked their political futures if they voted for its passage.
“Either there is massive change or America goes bankrupt, therefore there must be massive change!” Musk posted on X Wednesday.
His call for suspending all legislation until Trump assumed command on Jan. 20 seems an odd strategy, as the incoming president would inherit a government shutdown he helped instigate.
“The political pitfalls for the party that instigated a shutdown at a time that would be maximally advantageous for Democrats, who are capable and practiced demagogues when it comes to government shutdowns, would seem obvious. But they’re not obvious to Musk,” Rothman wrote. “Every few years, Republicans who are duly concerned about the nation’s fiscal trajectory convince themselves that, this time, a government shutdown may actually be popular, particularly if the logjam that culminates in a shutdown is a standoff over public spending. And every few years, those Republicans find out that they’re still wrong.”
But the growing opposition to Musk is largely irrelevant as long as he has Trump’s confidence. On Wednesday, when the president-elect came out against the continuing resolution, he repeated many of Musk’s talking points.
“President-elect Musk is really setting down the marker of how he wants to run his administration. VP Trump better pay attention,” observed former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Must shot back at critics of his relationship with Trump, blaming “the political and legacy media puppets” who he says are trying to drive a wedge between him and the president-elect.
“They will fail,” he posted on X Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the government continues to inch closer to a possible shutdown. On Friday, the House rejected a new spending bill pushed by Trump. Thirty-eight Republicans opposed the bill, joining 197 Democrats.
“The richest man in the world says he wants to shut down the government, forcing millions of American workers — including our troops — to go without pay through the holidays,” said Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, whose Virginia district includes many federal workers. “Republicans are following his orders. This is insane.”
