When President-elect Donald J. Trump picked “the Nice Elon Musk,” the world’s richest man, to slash authorities spending and waste, he mused that the trouble may be “the Manhattan Challenge of our time.”
On Wednesday, that prediction seemed spot on. Wielding the social media platform he bought for $44 billion in 2022, Mr. Musk detonated a rhetorical nuclear bomb in the course of authorities shutdown negotiations on Capitol Hill.
In additional than 150 separate posts on X, Mr. Musk demanded that Republicans again away from a bipartisan spending deal that was meant to keep away from a authorities shutdown over Christmas. He vowed political retribution towards anybody voting for the sprawling invoice backed by Home Speaker Mike Johnson.
Mr. Musk reposted Republican lawmakers’ complaints in regards to the spending measure, celebrating every as a win. He additionally shared misinformation in regards to the invoice, together with false claims that it contained new help for Ukraine or $3 billion in funds for a brand new stadium in Washington.
By the tip of the day, Mr. Trump issued a press release of his personal, calling the invoice “a betrayal of our nation.”
It was a exceptional day for Mr. Musk, who has by no means been elected to public workplace however now seems to be the most important megaphone for the person about to retake the Oval Workplace. Bigger, the truth is, than Mr. Trump himself, whose personal vaunted social media presence is dwarfed by that of Mr. Musk.
The president-elect counts 96.2 million followers on X, whereas Mr. Musk has 207.9 million. (Mr. Musk can be far richer than Mr. Trump. In keeping with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he’s price $442 billion, whereas the president-elect is price a mere $6.61 billion.)
On Thursday morning, Mr. Trump sought to reclaim management of the political debate for himself, issuing a menace of kinds to Mr. Johnson that he should not give in to Democrats as he tries discover a option to preserve the federal government working with out incurring the wrath of Mr. Musk.
“If the speaker acts decisively, and hard, and removes all the traps being set by the Democrats, which can economically and, in different methods, destroy our nation, he’ll simply stay speaker,” Trump mentioned in an interview with Fox Information Digital.
However left unclear was whether or not Mr. Musk is a free cannon pursuing his personal agenda or the instrument that Mr. Trump envisioned to rein in an out-of-control forms when he appointed him to guide the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity with Vivek Ramaswamy.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an unbiased from Vermont who has lengthy railed in regards to the undeserved energy of rich enterprise executives, appeared to have reached his personal conclusion, sarcastically referring to Mr. Musk, the proprietor of X and Tesla, because the president.
“Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan settlement to fund our authorities,” Mr. Sanders wrote — on X, in fact. “The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t prefer it. Will Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires should not be allowed to run our authorities.”
Conservative Republicans rallied behind Mr. Musk’s barrage of posts, with some even going as far as to recommend that the occasion ought to exchange Mr. Johnson with Mr. Musk as speaker. In a single submit, Senator Rand Paul famous that Home guidelines don’t require the chamber’s chief to be a member of Congress.
“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the Home,” replied Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. She added: “The institution must be shattered similar to it was yesterday. This may very well be the best way.”
That sort of lavish reward may come again to hang-out Mr. Musk. The president-elect will get famously irritable when the individuals in his orbit outshine him. Steve Bannon, as soon as the chief strategist within the White Home throughout his first time period, abruptly departed after journalists targeted consideration on the ability and affect he wielded. (One “Saturday Evening Stay” skit weeks into his presidency featured Mr. Bannon because the Grim Reaper standing behind the president and calling the photographs within the Oval Workplace.)
One among Mr. Musk’s first posts in regards to the spending invoice got here at 4:15 Wednesday morning in Washington.
“This invoice shouldn’t move,” the billionaire wrote on his social platform.
Between posts about his personal online game antics and SpaceX’s satellite tv for pc web service, he used his X account to name the invoice “prison,” unfold misinformation about its contents and challenge a rallying cry to “cease the steal of your tax {dollars}!”
His posts adopted the same sample of previous exercise on X, the place he can develop into hyper-fixated on a single challenge that bothers him. As the most well-liked person on X, Mr. Musk has used his feed as a bullhorn to drive dialog on the platform and past.
Wednesday, nevertheless, was the primary time Mr. Musk has been ready to make use of his web site as a digital whip, driving lawmakers to help his desired end result. By the afternoon, Home representatives and senators — a few of whom had already voiced their disapproval of the invoice earlier than Mr. Musk’s outbursts — have been posting on X about their “no” votes and echoing Mr. Musk’s calls to curb spending and help the effectivity effort.
“Any Member who claims to help the @DOGE shouldn’t help this “CR of Inefficiency” that doesn’t have offsets!!,” Consultant Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina, wrote on X, utilizing shorthand for a seamless decision to maintain federal funding flowing. “Don’t get weak within the knees earlier than we even get began!”
On Wednesday, narrative eclipsed fact. “The horrible invoice is useless,” Mr. Musk posted simply earlier than 4 p.m. in Washington, closing his submit with the Latin phrase “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which interprets to “the voice of the individuals is the voice of God.”
He’s used the chorus earlier than, most notably when restoring Mr. Trump’s Twitter account in November 2022, shortly after shopping for the corporate. This time, the person who spent greater than 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} this election cycle to help Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign used it to border his personal actions as the need of Americans.
“No payments ought to be handed Congress till Jan. 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes workplace,” Mr. Musk wrote on X. “None. Zero.”
