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Existing bipartisan funding deal killed by “President Musk”: Is Musk running the show?

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Is the man now increasingly called “President Elon Musk” now running the Trump administration show with Donald Trump either a)an echo b)unable to meeting alone national, foreign government and business bigwigs” in meetings without him?

It certainly seems that way. Let’s give a big hand (with the middle finger up) to Trump Chaos returning to Washington.

And, with a little help from “President Musk”, short-circuiting a Trump presidential honeymoon before Trump has even been sworn in. As The Bulwark’s William Kristol writes, the world’s richest man wants to burn it all down.

On Twitter, Tik Tok, and Democrats in many interviews Musk is being referred to as “President Musk.” In the first Trump administration Trump was President. In the incoming Trump administration Trump will apparently be co-President.

A bipartisan deal, hammered out between House Speaker Mike Johnson with Democrats, was seemingly all set. Then Musk came out against it in posts and phone calls. Then after that Trump came out against it. Meanwhile, mega-MAGA Steve Bannon suggested Johnson was a Democrat. ‘

And the House Republicans folded, breaking their bipartisan deal with Democrats. Rolling Stone:

Elon Musk, self-described “First Buddy” of President-elect Donald Trump, went all out to thwart a last-minute funding deal to avert a government shutdown. The move was a direct challenge to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who rolled out the sweeping plan on Tuesday night.

Now, it appears Musk has successfully killed the stopgap measure in its cradle — before it was even brought to a vote.

In a manic posting spree on Wednesday, the world’s richest man bombarded his platform X, formerly Twitter, with attacks on a proposed funding bill, which would’ve kept the government funded through March 14 and had bipartisan support. He also amplified misinformation about what’s in the 1,500-page bill — as did his non-governmental commission, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is recommending cuts to government spending and regulations to the incoming Trump administration.

Trump himself opposes the resolution, according to a joint statement shared Wednesday by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Various hard-right GOP representatives also vowed to vote against it. Should Johnson fail to get a spending plan passed by Dec. 20, the federal government will enter a partial shutdown ahead of the holidays. But that apparently sounded ideal to Musk and his social media clique.

“YES,” Musk commented on an X post from a user who wrote, “Just close down the govt until January 20th. Defund everything. We will be fine for 33 days.” In his own post, Musk wrote, “No bills should be passed [by] Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero.” (Upon Trump’s inauguration, Republican majorities will control both chambers of Congress.) Elsewhere, Musk reshared a meme of himself hacking at the bill with a sword, captioned “KILL THE BILL.” In yet another post, he wrote: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

Musk personally thanked a number of GOP representatives who announced via X that they were voting “no” on the bill, including Reps. Barry Moore, Anna Paulina Luna, Wesley Hunt, Eli Crane, Randy Weber, Michael Cloud, Jeff Van Drew, Warren Davidson, Keith Self, Kevin Kiley and Andy Ogles, many of whom blasted it as an “omnibus” package of excessive spending and Democratic giveaways.

The funding bill, H.R. 10445, contained provisions for allocating roughly $100 billion to relief efforts to aid Americans recovering from natural disasters in the past two years, some $30 billion in aid to farmers, and federal funding to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. It would also have criminalized revenge porn, given the District of Columbia greater control over the area surrounding the defunct Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium as they seek to bring the Washington Commanders back into the city, addressed transparency issues in hotel prices and live event ticketing, and implemented health care reforms, including some intended to lower prescription drug costs.

More controversially, the bill included a pay raise for members Congress, justified as a cost of living adjustment, a provision which drew criticism from both sides of the aisle.

Where does this leave Johnson? Trump says he supports Johnson — if he acts “decisively and tough” on the spending bill. That is, if Johnson does what President Elon Musk and Trump want.Fox News:

President-elect Donald Trump told Fox News Digital that House Speaker Mike Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package.

Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with the president-elect Thursday morning, just hours after the bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown was killed.

“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

Vice President-elect JD Vance met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Wednesday night. The two spoke about the potential continuing resolution for about an hour. Vance said the two had a “productive conversation,” and said he believes they will “be able to solve some problems here” and will continue “working on it.”

So the clock is ticking on a government shut down. If it turns bad, it’s unlikely Democrats will work to rescue GOPers from any public backlash and acquiesce to Republican demands. Now Trump is calling for the total elimination of the debt ceiling and says if it doesn’t pass it’ll be a “Biden shutdown.” The problem: history has shown that when Republicans shut down the government and blame Democrats it does not work. It boomerangs on those that actually shut the government down.

Could Democrats vote the way Trump wants and eliminate the debt ceiling? Democrats would also like to see the debt ceiling scrapped. Still, it looks unlikely.

Paul Krugman:

“We’ll have to see how much damage this does, but it’s already clear that assuming the worst happens — and it’s hard to see how it won’t — this will be the dumbest shutdown ever. I’d say that the incoming Musk administration (so far Musk, not Trump, appears to be calling the shots) is trying to hold itself up for ransom, but it doesn’t even rise to that level. This isn’t like 1995, when Newt Gingrich shut down the government in an attempt to extract cuts in Medicare and Medicaid — a move that seemed (and was) a foolish act of petulance, but at least had a ghost of motivation.”

“No, Musk is demanding — apparently successfully — that Republicans in Congress renege on a deal they had already agreed to, a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government going for the next few months. Why? Because, Musk says, of the outrageous provisions in that CR.”

“Except none of the items Musk is complaining about are actually in the bill.”



Caricature: DonkeyHotey/Flickr