Who’s in charge here?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wasn’t a candidate in this year’s presidential race, but he suddenly seems to be running the show in Washington, D.C. Musk has quickly emerged as the most influential adviser to incoming President Donald Trump, as well as the richest and most voluble. And he seems to be adding the US government to the list of organizations he runs, or aims to.
Musk took the lead in shooting down an eleventh hour spending bill Congress planned to pass to keep the government running into 2025. Congress could still pass another spending bill, avoiding a year-end shutdown that is sure to be unpopular with voters. The astonishing part is the sudden command of the Republican Party by an unelected Trump surrogate who seems oblivious to the possibility that he’s overreaching.
Congress was set to pass a bipartisan short-term spending bill until Musk went on a Dec. 18 tweetstorm insisting that Congressional Republicans kill the bill. The details are geeky, but some Trumpers want Congress to leave the government unfunded until Trump takes office on Jan. 20 so the funding bills fully reflect the priorities of Republicans, who will control both houses of Congress and the White House by then.
One small problem: Without the short-term funding, the government will shut down until Jan. 20. Musk doesn’t mind. He endorsed the idea of a shutdown in one of the 100-plus tweets he posted on the matter. But some Republicans are well aware that the public hates government shutdowns and usually blames their party. Why walk into that trap?
Well, because Trump said to. Several hours after Musk began his barrage on X, Trump and his vice presidential pick, JD Vance, weighed in to second Musk’s demand, saying Republicans who control the House should scrap the existing bill and come up with a better one. So House Speaker Mike Johnson shelved the bill.
Oh, on a side note: Joe Biden is still president, and Democrats control the Senate until the next Congress convenes on Jan. 3. For their next trick, the fading Democrats will completely vanish down a rabbit hole.
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Musk, however, is just getting started. After Musk backed Trump in the 2024 election, Trump rewarded him with the unofficial job of running a commission to overhaul the entire US government. Musk’s newfound influence in the normally arcane business of congressional funding resolutions suggests he has large ambitions.
Musk is obviously used to running things. He owns or controls six companies, including Twitter, now X, which is rapidly becoming a bullhorn that allows Musk to rouse millions to action on whatever cause he deems worthy. During his tweetstorm on the funding bill, members of Congress reported a deluge of calls and emails demanding they do what Musk called for.
Can Musk be content with an advisory role that has no inherent power? Trump might be wondering that. Some reports say Trump was “blindsided” by Musk’s assault on the funding bill, with a power struggle now underway between the two egomaniacs.
There are three ways the Trump-Musk dalliance could unfold. It’s possible the 78-year-old Trump wants to take it easy in office and would be happy to delegate his dismantling of institutions to a fearless superhero in his own mind such as Musk. Having a consigliere to do the dirty deeds would also give Trump the benefit of throwing Musk under the bus and deflecting blame from himself if it all goes wrong, somehow.
Or, Musk might learn his place and stop trying to be co-president. Trump got elected; he didn’t.
Or, there might not be enough space in Washington, D.C., for two personalities the size of Trump and Musk. One might have to go, and it won’t be Trump, who legitimately earned four years of free rent from American voters. Musk has plenty to stay busy with, and he can always run his own efficiency commission, if he wants, without Trump’s help.
Political winds can shift fast, especially in the Trump-o-sphere. Even Musk won’t be impervious to that.
Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @rickjnewman.
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