Elon Musk Handed the Democrats A Gift, Will they Use It?
Photo by Office of Speaker Mike Johnson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The government seems likely to shut down on Saturday, a new development in negotiations brought about entirely by Elon Musk shitposting over a hundred times on Twitter. Congress was ready to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open through March, until the most credulous man alive elevated the dumbest Twitter accounts in existence broadcasting outright lies and falsehoods that have even been called out by Republicans like Dan Crenshaw.
I love you Elon but you need to take 5 seconds to check your sources before highlighting bottom feeders looking for clicks.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) December 19, 2024
Tough shit Dan. Bottom feeders looking for clicks run the Republican Party now and you all signed up for this a long time ago. No one should be surprised that End Wokeness and Libs of Tik Tok may shut down the government when you all just let them run your presidential campaign. We are getting an early preview of the chaos that a narrow Republican House majority is likely to create, as the dumbest, most craven people alive have all been emboldened to be their worst, most egotistical selves. The calamity is going to be something to behold.
Politico put together a good fact-check about what Elon Musk got wrong about this continuing resolution—namely, everything—and yesterday’s ordeal was a political gift to Democrats. Republicans were going to pass this bill, right up until their billionaire benefactor threw a temper tantrum, and everyone fell in line. A shitposter is very clearly now running the government.
The richest man in the world influencing government decisions for the entire world to see? The script literally writes itself. This is so obvious that a man who just days ago described Gerry Connolly, who beat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to lead the House Oversight Committee as “a young 74, cancer notwithstanding,” is already taking the proper line of attack.
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.
Republicans are following his orders. This is insane.
— Congressman Don Beyer (@repdonbeyer.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 2:56 PM
It is insane! Elon Musk absolutely fancies himself a shadow president and the entire Republican Party is acquiescing to his delusions. In fact, some are going a step further, as Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee have accepted that Speaker Mike Johnson is going to be a thing of the past at some point, and suggested that Elon should be Speaker of the House.
This is an impending disaster and all the real-world pain it will cause aside (the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the five-week shutdown in 2018 through 2019 lost the economy $3 billion), the inevitable implosion of the Musk-Trump alliance is going to be very entertaining and politically exploitable for Democrats.
As any longtime observer of Donald Trump knows, people who take the spotlight from him do not last long in it. Trump is the pettiest person alive, and he is joined at the hip with Elon Musk more out of convenience than desire. Don’t forget how Trump once correctly posted that “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, “drop to your knees and beg,” and he would have done it…”
Do you really think that Trump is enjoying Elon cosplaying president? What do you think will happen if this shutdown ends badly for Trump? Do you think he will be kind to the ketamine space nerd? Or will he be Donald Trump?
Democrats have two missions here, and some of the ones who aren’t hopelessly poisoned by bipartisan brain or stuck in one of America’s eight swing districts seem to get one of them, as exemplified by Chris Murphy saying “why is Donald Trump engaged in this relentless campaign to try to silence journalists, media companies, and his political opposition? It’s because he’s trying to steal from you.”
Trump is stealing from you, yes, but Elon is very clearly trying to steal the presidency from Trump, and the Democrats should point that out every moment of every day. Trump is made entirely of Diet Coke, Big Macs, cable news, and resentment, and if a critical mass of Democrats show up on his TV saying President Elon Musk or Elon Musk’s government shutdown, it will eventually make its way underneath Trump’s very thin skin.
musk shutdown. muskdown. musk shutdown. elon musk shutdown. musk’s government shutdown. elon musk’s government shutdown.
— Michael Tae Sweeney (@mtsw.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 4:10 PM
It’s easy to laugh at the idea of Speaker of the House Elon Musk, but I actually think that Rand Paul and Mike Lee are being pretty savvy about the situation here. Elon’s massively fragile ego trying to eclipse Trump’s gargantuan one will not end well, and giving him a formal designation underneath president is probably one of the better ways to try to delay the inevitable. But the Democrats must realize that if this government shutdown driven entirely by Elon Musk bending the Republican Party to his will hurts Donald Trump politically, that will accelerate the inevitable. Press the pedal to the metal, Dems.
Members of Congress could take some extra steps to troll Musk specifically including subpoenas, testimony, security clearances, creating an official office for him with high levels of transparency, etc. etc.
@schatz.bsky.social @chrismurphyct.bsky.social @repdonbeyer.bsky.social @aoc.bsky.social
— Aaron Huertas (@aaronhuertas.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 11:37 AM
Donald Trump is at the height of his post-2020 popularity right now, nearly two points underwater. His favorability rating is a few points higher than Biden’s was to start 2023. Democrats’ job is to knock that sucker down at least to the 40 percent baseline it’s been at, or further, as soon as possible. Elon Musk can help them. Only Republicans have a net-favorable view of the president’s new adopted doofus son, and a billionaire interjecting himself in politics to order a government shutdown that winds up hurting people is a golden political opportunity. The path here is so obvious it gives me hope that even the Democrats can’t screw this up, but as the past year has taught us, anything is possible.