politics
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December 20, 2024
Elon Musk scuttled a bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown. Trump raised his stakes even further by demanding that the bill raise the debt ceiling. The new bill failed. Who is in charge here?
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President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance attend the 125th Army-Navy Football Game on December 14, 2024 in Landover, Maryland.
(Kevin Dickey/Getty Images)
happy holidays! Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are just around the corner—cultures around the world celebrate Hanukkah at this time of year. But the Republican Party seems to have chosen black humor, seinfeld-Invented the festival “Festivus”, famous for “expressing dissatisfaction”.
For those still mourning Donald Trump’s re-election: Enjoy your During the holidays, the Republican Party expressed dissatisfaction and divided. Schadenfreude is a delicious side dish to any festive table.
To recap: After House Speaker Mike Johnson announced bipartisan agreement on a continuing resolution, Shadow President Elon Musk vetoed the resolution, posting 150 times on Xitter on Wednesday Oppose the spending in this bill. Not to be outdone, Trump also suddenly abrogated the agreement and put forward a brand new demand for Congress to raise or even abolish the debt ceiling.
Trump said: “Raising the debt ceiling is not a good thing, but we would rather do it under Biden.” See? He knows raising the debt ceiling is unpopular, but he thinks they’re stupid enough to blame it on Joe Biden. Maybe they are; maybe it plays into the right-wing echo chamber, but the rest of us see it as a coward trying to raise the debt ceiling so he can extend his budget-busting tax cuts and run the deficit even higher.
Politico This analysis of the Musk-Trump two-step: Tesla billionaire “got it” Wow His spending cuts have pushed Trump into a corner. I think so too.
current problem
In case you forgot the pain caused by previous shutdowns: Social Security and Medicare payments will continue, but payments to some military personnel will be suspended. “Non-essential” federal workers will go without pay; during the 2019 government shutdown, food banks in the Washington, D.C., area were filled with unpaid federal workers.
The conscientious and probably doomed Mike Johnson recently heard him bragging about his cool text message link with Musk and his DOGEr Vivek Ramaswamy, so he went back to the drawing board and formulated a plan to satisfy Musk The bill includes spending cuts, including cuts to pediatric funding for cancer research, plus a two-year debt ceiling increase to please Trump. But it failed, with 38 Republicans voting no and all but two Democrats voting no.
“We must unequivocally reject the illegitimate oligarchy that seeks to usurp the authority of the United States Congress and the American people,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a longtime progressive Connecticut representative. On this bill, Democrats are doing just that.
Some Republicans balked at Musk’s outsize role. Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, told reporters he had “no idea where Musk has his voting card,” adding “I’m not sure he understands the plight of ordinary working people right now.” Musk torpedoes The bill includes farm aid that Thompson supports.
But others welcomed their new Afrikaans overlords. “I would like to support @elonmusk as Speaker of the House,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on social media. “The system needs to be broken like it was yesterday. That could be the way to go. It’s worth noting that Musk yes Qualifications to become Speaker: Not being a member of the House of Representatives and being born and raised in South Africa are no barriers.
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With the bill he opposed defeated and no solution in sight, Musk turned his attention to his other important priority: cheering for Nazism.
Turning to German politics, he praised the Nazi-adjacent far-right anti-immigration Alliance for Germany (AfD) as it vie for control in the upcoming February 23 election.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk posted on X.
Also this week, Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s far-right Reform party, posted a photo of himself and Musk at Mar-a-Lago. Musk wants more than just cutting government spending; he wants to reshape the Republican Party in the image of Europe’s most fearsome player. Is Trump on board? perhaps. He hosted Farage and publicly praised Hungary’s Viktor Orban. He is a friend of dictators around the world.
There was much speculation that by pushing for Johnson repeal, Musk was overshadowing Trump and making it clear that he was the leader — but ultimately, Trump’s ego wouldn’t allow it. Remember, during his first term, Trump ousted his campaign manager and senior adviser Steve Bannon when Bannon gained too much credit for Trump’s actions. Democrats began calling Musk “President Musk” with “Vice President Trump” in hopes of breaking up the dynamic duo. (Where will coffee boy JD Vance go from here?)
This may vary. Bannon brought a microphone to the party, but he didn’t bring the billions of dollars that would allow Trump to follow through on threats against disloyal Republicans. If Trump cares enough, Musk will likely survive as the president’s enforcer.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, about 12 hours into the government shutdown, Mike Johnson said he was preparing a new bill: “We already have a plan,” he told reporters. Politico. But Trump, who is said to be weighing the return on investment of a government shutdown, may not care.
“If the government is going to shut down,” he posted, “let it start now, under a Biden administration, not after January 20th under ‘Trump.'”
Headline credit goes to my friend, economist Dean Baker!
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