Musk and Trump quickly derailed a stopgap spending bill, showing their power before the president-elect even takes office.
www.bbc.com
A funny thing happened on the way to a bipartisan agreement to fund US government operations and avoid a partial shutdown this week.
Conservatives in Congress – encouraged by tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk – balked.
Republicans tried to regroup on Thursday afternoon, offering a new, slimmed-down package to fund the government. That vote failed, as
38 Republicans joined most Democrats in voting no.
All this political drama provides just a taste of the
chaos and unpredictability that could be in store under unified Republican rule in Washington next year.
The man at the centre of this week's drama holds no official government title or role. What Elon Musk does have, however, is hundreds of billions of dollars, a social media megaphone and the ear not just of the president of the United States but also rank-and-file conservatives in Congress.
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As the number of his posts about the proposed agreement stretched into
triple digits, at times amplifying factually inaccurate allegations made by conservative commentators, opposition to the legislation in Congress grew.
And by Wednesday evening, Donald Trump – perhaps sensing that he needed to get in front of the growing conservative uprising - publicly stated that he, too, opposed the government funding bill.
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Support for the stopgap spending bill then collapsed, forcing Johnson and his leadership team to scramble to find an alternative path forward. As they did, Musk celebrated, proclaiming that "the voice of the people has triumphed".
It may be more accurate, however, to say that it was Musk's voice that triumphed.
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For two years, Republicans in the chamber have grappled with keeping a united front amidst a party populated, at least in part, by politicians with an active contempt for the government they help to run
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What this week has revealed, however, is that the president-elect may not always offer the legislature the clear, consistent direction it requires.
His insistence on raising the debt limit, for instance, caught many in his own party by surprise. And outside influences, such as from Musk or others, could inject extra instability into the process.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Georgia congresswoman who unsuccessfully pushed to remove Johnson in May, suggested Musk become speaker.
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(what a $h!t sh0w)