Elon Musk Is Utilizing His Platform and Energy to Meme Us Right into a Authorities Shutdown

Elon Musk spent the previous few days posting a couple of authorities spending invoice on X, the web site he owns. Musk, who’s cozy with the incoming Trump administration and thinks the federal government spends an excessive amount of cash, didn’t need the spending invoice to cross. He posted about this more than 100 times. As of this writing, it seems that Musk has gotten his want.

Offended constituents referred to as their representatives. The GOP’s most unhinged members revolted and the bill is dead in the water. It’s attainable that we’ll start the vacation season with a authorities shutdown. One orchestrated by an unelected billionaire.

That is our future.

No payments needs to be handed Congress till Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes workplace.

None.

Zero.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

Elon Musk started to hector and publish concerning the invoice on Wednesday. “No payments needs to be handed Congress till Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes workplace. None. Zero,” he stated in a publish on X.

Rep. Marjorie Taylore Greene of Georgia, in fact, supported a authorities shutdown. “The federal government can shut down all the way in which till Jan twentieth so far as I’m involved,” she stated. “AND WE MUST STAND FIRM WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO STOP THE MADNESS!!”

Thanks @newtgingrich!

I’m all in.

The federal government can shut down all the way in which till Jan twentieth so far as I’m involved.

AND WE MUST STAND FIRM WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO STOP THE MADNESS!!

It doesn’t matter what.

Even when we’ve got to elect new management.

I’m ALL IN. https://t.co/gVA0H4Q4iU

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 19, 2024

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina bought in on the act and posted footage of herself hovering over the large 1,500 page continuing resolution “The final CR we did was 21 pages. This as soon as is 1,547. Let that sink in. Extra pages, extra taxpayer {dollars} flushed down the drain.”

The final CR we did was 21 pages. This as soon as is 1,547.

Let that sink in. Extra pages, extra taxpayer {dollars} flushed down the drain. pic.twitter.com/AxiBmQPlpS

— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) December 18, 2024

“Right here they’re facet by facet,” she stated in a follow-up tweet that included no picture.

By the afternoon, footage of the CR with the phrases “Kill Invoice” stylized to match the Quentin Tarantino movie had been trending on X. In a reply to a Musk publish, Nancy confirmed off an AI-generated image of herself dressed because the Bride, the hero from the movie.

Uniform Of The Day. Compliments of @CharlieWrldTV pic.twitter.com/d1OB5YJkCt

— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) December 18, 2024

A thirsty reply guy responded to the faux picture of the yellow cat-suited Mace. “I need you to chop my arms off.”

“You’re uncontrolled,” Mace replied to her reply man, adopted by a laughing cry face emoji.

I’m glad everyone seems to be having enjoyable.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the long-winded Gallant to Musk’s shitposting Goofus on the Division of Authorities Effectivity, wrote a 400-word publish concerning the 1,500-page spending invoice. He’d learn it, he stated, so that you don’t must. “Maintaining the federal government open till March 14 will value ~$380BN by itself, however the true value of this omnibus CR is way better because of new spending,” he stated.

I wished to learn the total 1,500+ web page invoice & converse with key leaders earlier than forming an opinion. Having completed that, here is my view: it is filled with extreme spending, particular curiosity giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress desires to get critical about authorities effectivity, they…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 18, 2024

Hours late to his personal celebration, Donald Trump posted on Reality Social concerning the invoice at 6:40 PM on Wednesday. “If Republicans attempt to cross a clear Persevering with Decision with out the entire Democrat ‘bells and whistles’ that can be so damaging to our Nation, all it should do, after January twentieth, is carry the mess of the Debt Restrict into the Trump Administration, slightly than permitting it to happen within the Biden Administration,” he said. “Any Republican that might be so silly as to do that ought to, and can, be Primaried. All the pieces needs to be completed, and absolutely negotiated, previous to my taking Workplace on January twentieth, 2025.”

The saga of the CR invoice is outstanding for a number of causes, not the least of which is Trump’s notable absence from the proceedings. Musk has made himself the face of this factor. The unelected South African immigrant billionaire has come to D.C. to flex his muscle mass and curtail authorities spending. He appears to have gained the primary spherical. He did it, partially, by posting.

It’s true that authorities spending payments are filled with pork. There’s at all times carve-outs, pork barrel tasks, and raises for the individuals in energy in Washington. This Persevering with Decision was no completely different. It could have saved the lights on, nevertheless it additionally would have enriched the individuals who wrote the invoice.

I think that Musk and his cohort, regardless of their claims in any other case, merely wish to change who’s enriched by the payments. Musk is nice with cash. He is aware of easy methods to extract it from the world round him. He’s not a tech genius, he’s an extraction genius. His wealth is constructed, partially, on billions of {dollars} of government contracts. It’s wager that, after 4 years of Trump, he’ll have extra billions and extra contracts. Not much less. And he’ll publish by way of all of it, making his followers suppose he’s combating for them as he traces his personal pockets.

On Thursday, Trump prattled on about abolishing the debt ceiling—a restrict set by Congress on the amount of money it might borrow to pay Washington’s payments. In an interview with NBC, Trump once more referred to as for the tip of the ceiling. “It doesn’t imply something, besides psychologically,” he said. So. Whereas Musk was advocating for a authorities shutdown due to value overruns, Trump stumped for the elimination of a restrict on the amount of money the federal government can borrow. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren shortly jumped in to agree with Trump on abolishing the debt ceiling.

On Thursday morning, Rep. Greene referred to as for Elon Musk to turn out to be speaker of the home. “DOGE can solely actually be achieved by reigning in Congress to enact actual authorities effectivity.  The institution must be shattered similar to it was yesterday. This might be the way in which.”