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Yesterday, a tantrum from the world’s richest individual swayed occasions in Congress. First, Elon Musk launched a blizzard of X posts denouncing a bipartisan spending invoice designed to maintain the federal government open. Calling the invoice “prison,” Musk threatened: “Any member of the Home or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending invoice deserves to be voted out in two years!”
Panic ensued among the many notoriously skittish congressional GOP, who shortly bowed to their grasp’s voice. Musk, in fact, isn’t really the president-elect. He acquired roughly zero p.c of the votes in final month’s election. However for just a few hours this week, Musk didn’t simply act as if he, and never Donald Trump, will quickly maintain the reins of presidency energy; the GOP additionally responded as if he’ll.
As Russell Berman famous in The Atlantic earlier immediately, Republicans weren’t pleased with the proposed model of the spending invoice, however Home Speaker Mike Johnson “believed that he might get sufficient Republicans to hitch most Democrats in passing the invoice in time to avert a authorities shutdown.” It seems, although, that the individual he actually wanted to influence was Musk. “I used to be speaking with Elon final night time,” Johnson mentioned yesterday on Fox & Buddies. “Elon, Vivek [Ramaswamy], and I are on a textual content chain collectively, and I used to be explaining to them the background of this.” The pleading and lobbying to the unelected billionaires went on for some time. Johnson added, “Vivek and I talked final night time [until] about virtually midnight … [He and Musk] perceive the state of affairs. They mentioned, ‘It’s not directed at you, Mr. Speaker, however we don’t just like the spending.’ And I mentioned, ‘Guess what, fellas? I don’t both.’”
Johnson’s try at appeasement failed. Inside hours, the pseudo president-elect had kneecapped Johnson. Trump and J. D. Vance weighed in yesterday afternoon, releasing a press release denouncing the spending invoice. The federal government was on the sting of a shutdown. As of this writing, Trump has praised a brand new, slimmed-down model of the spending invoice (as has Musk), opening the potential for averting that end result. However Musk’s place on the heart of this course of provided us a preview of the political dynamics of the Musk-Trump-GOP period: razor-thin legislative margins, chaos, governing through social-media rant, and a Recreation of Thrones–type jockeying for energy between Musk and Trump.
Musk’s day of prolific posting was additionally a reminder of how little he comprehends in regards to the U.S. authorities. His feverish 100-plus posts have been riddled with disinformation and false claims that exposed his lack of awareness of the fundamentals of budgeting. He obtained particulars improper about a congressional pay elevate and taxpayer funding of an NFL stadium in Washington, D.C. He pushed misinformation from a January 6 rioter who falsely claimed that the spending invoice would block Republican investigation of the January 6 Choose Committee. Musk exulted within the prospect of a whole authorities shutdown, posting {that a} shutdown “doesn’t really shut down crucial features.” Though it’s true that “important features” would proceed (and that Social Safety checks would nonetheless exit), contra Musk, shutdowns are neither painless nor low-cost. Massive swaths of the federal government would certainly be compelled to close down, and authorities staff would see delayed paychecks.
Wherever the spending invoice lands, this week could mark one other dramatic shift in GOP politics. For years, as a sign of their dedication to fiscal prudence, conservative Republicans have opposed elevating the debt restrict. Immediately, although, after Musk had stolen a march on him, Trump known as for getting rid of the debt ceiling altogether (probably as a result of he needs to clear the way in which for enormous tax cuts subsequent yr). That form of demand will drive members of the Freedom Caucus to—as soon as once more—select between fiscal conservatism and their sycophantic loyalty to the incoming president. The newest model of the spending invoice, in response to Trump’s social-media posts, would droop the debt ceiling till January 2027.
In the meantime, the president-elect has to cope with the specter of Elon Musk. As Politico’s Jonathan Martin famous on X yesterday, Musk’s second brings with it just a few potential downsides for Trump: “The Elon threat right here is he’s not simply diverting consideration from Trump, he’s additionally threatening to ship him dangerous press if the gov’t shuts down.” This week, Musk solidified his affect over the methods of U.S. authorities, however the clock could also be ticking on Trump’s tolerance of that truth.
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- Dominique Pelicot and 50 different males have been discovered responsible in a mass-rape and drugging trial in France. Almost all of them have been convicted for rape or tried rape of Gisèle Pelicot, Dominique’s ex-wife.
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