And Poor MAGA Mike Gets Publicly Castrated
It’s hard to imagine any Republican senators other than Murkowski and maybe Collins (plus perhaps anyone who has decided to not run again) standing up to co-presidents Trump and Musk on their whacky nominations. And yet… yesterday Reuters claimed an exclusive: 8 Republicans senators reluctant to vote to confirm Kremlin spy Tulsi Gabbard to be in charge of America’s own spy universe. Only 4 of the 8 were named: Muskowski, Collins, McConnell and Utah Senator-elect John Curtis. I’d imagine Trump or Musk told Putin “one wish” and “that nice girl from Hawaii” was his reply.
If Musk is the richest man in the world, Putin is the second richest. Trump loves rich people— even more than “the poorly educated.” And on Tuesday, Vox carried a story about how Trump could use the presidency for personal gain— again. He’s “raising ethical concerns” with all the tchotchkes he’s hawking— golf shoes, sneakers, watches, guitars, cologne, perfume… not to mention the family cryptocurrency venture. He also has businesses with crooked Middle East partners which violate federal law.
On Tuesday the co-president of Public Citizen, Robert Weissman, issued a statement about the co-president of the United States, emphasizing that “Musk’s entanglements with federal law enforcement goes far beyond national security reporting requirements. At least three of Musk’s businesses are currently under scrutiny for alleged misconduct by at least eight federal agencies. Musk’s self-interest when it comes to federal investigations, government contracts and government policies is far-reaching and fundamentally tarnishes his effort as co-chair of the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency.’ In recent weeks, Musk has trashed an agency he claims is about to launch an enforcement action against him (the Securities and Exchange Commission) and called for elimination of another (the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) that would have jurisdiction over Twitter if the company expands its business in the way Musk hopes. There is no possible way for a person in Musk’s position to oversee a legitimate investigation into government operations— but Musk doesn’t even pretend to disentangle his personal business from the advisory role President-elect Trump has conferred on him. It’s time to delete DOGE.”
At the same time, former Goldman Sachs investment banker Matt Levine was noting that Musk doesn’t appear to be accountable to the justice system the way other people are, being ‘extremely rich, litigious and willing to fight even without great legal arguments, [and] popular online… You can’t seriously expect all of the laws to apply to him… [I}f you are successful enough, the regular laws do not apply to you. I assume that if Musk walked into the office of the secretary of defense and snorted a bag of coke in front of him, no government contracts would be canceled… Musk is too big to fail a drug test. And that was, you know, before! Now Musk has helped get Donald Trump elected president, and Trump is not particularly big on insisting that his supporters follow the law in every detail. In a month, if any federal regulators or law enforcement officers object to anything that Musk does, can Musk just… fire them?
And then, seemingly out of the blue, Musk big-footed into Congress yesterday and told Trump to blowup the bipartisan funding agreement that was meant to keep the government open. Musk thinks it should be shut down until Trump is sworn in (Jan. 20). In a “manic posting spree” yesterday, Musk went hog-wild with a barrage of lies about the deal. He, Trump and Vance threw MAGA Mike under the driverless Tesla truck. Trump and Vance insisted Congress “pass a debt-limit bill on ‘Biden’s watch.’ Republican leadership on Capitol Hill hadn’t considered including the debt limit in any recent negotiations, although Trump has been griping about having to deal with the borrowing cap for weeks.” MAGA Mike then had the House adjourned— even though the government will shut down Friday at midnight.
Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Melanie Zanona and Mica Soellner reported that “Trump’s statement was the final blow to a CR package that was already a hugely embarrassing setback for Johnson. The House Freedom Caucus had been bitterly opposed to the bipartisan package, which includes $100 billion in disaster aid, $30 billion in support for farmers, health care and trade provisions and even a pay raise for lawmakers, a controversial move. It’s an inauspicious start to Trump’s relationship with Johnson who, theoretically, is his governing partner. Trump privately trashed Johnson to senators, saying the speaker ‘mishandled’ the situation, according to GOP sources. ‘Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,’ Trump and Vance said. ‘The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.’”
MAGA Mike “felt he had to give into Democratic demands on a host of provisions because the speaker insisted on the inclusion of economic aid for farmers. Democrats took advantage of Johnson’s position and scored a number of key wins.
And what about Johnson? A face plant of this nature could imperil Johnson’s political future. The anger– and the anger in the ranks is very real right now– could blow over... But the speaker election is Jan. 3. That’s just 16 days away. Thomas Massie (R-KY) already said he wouldn’t back Johnson for speaker. Massie had been leaning that way but said this latest CR debacle was a “tipping point.”
And we hear from multiple sources there are more Republicans— at least two— who are in Massie’s camp.
Some Johnson critics are already privately floating names behind the scenes of alternatives they’d prefer for speaker, such as House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan or House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. Jordan and Emmer both ran for speaker after the conference ousted Kevin McCarthy. They both lost. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise could also be in the mix.
Arizona GOP Rep. Eli Crane told us he was “undecided” about voting for Johnson and confirmed there’s talk behind the scenes about a potential alternative. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) is leaning “no,” we’re told. Reps. Eric Burlison (R-MO), Andy Ogles (R-TN) and Cory Mills (R-FL) have been non-committal. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) is always a wild card.
Johnson can only afford to lose three Republicans on the floor, given former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) resignation and assuming all Democrats are present.
And how about Musk?… Musk said that any “member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Remember that Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars electing Trump. He can spend several millions of dollars and have outsized impact in House primaries.
We also heard he’s been in direct contact with several members regarding the CR throughout the last 24 hours.
Johnson and the GOP leadership in D.C. elevated Musk as the leading figure on cutting government waste. And now that is coming back to bite them.
Hakeem Jeffries: “House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country. House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.” That includes $10.8 billion in disaster relief for Florida and $9.3 billion for North Carolina. Other big losers on that front: California ($7.1 billion), Texas ($5.4 billion), Virginia ($3.7 billion) and South Carolina ($2.3 billion). Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) on President Musk: “It is dangerous for House Republicans to have folded to the demands of the richest man on the planet, who nobody elected, after leaders in both parties came to an agreement to fund the government and provide this disaster aid.” So... when do we find out who Trump and Musk have decided the next speaker will be?