House GOP in Chaos as Elon Musk Floated for Speaker

The President-elect has not yet been sworn into office, but his party is already taking a wrecking ball to our barely functioning Congress, seemingly determined to destroy it. The MAGA faithful are cheering, but it feels very much like a “You break it, you own it” situation. Elon Musk, who has no government experience whatsoever, appears bent on tanking the economy before inauguration day.

Here’s the short version of the story: Congress has until tomorrow to pass a funding bill to keep the government running and avoid a shutdown. Republicans in the House hold a razor-thin majority, but because of divisions within the GOP, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson often relies on Democrats to pass funding bills. To secure bipartisan support, these bills are typically stuffed with pork. Johnson’s latest attempt—a massive, 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR)—was posted online Tuesday, only to implode less than 24 hours later.

Meanwhile, Musk wants to slash government spending. Not only has he spread misinformation about the bill’s contents, but he’s also threatened that any Republican supporting it will face primary challenges in 2026. Several Republicans quickly fell in line, prompting Trump to back Musk’s position as well. Trump also wants the debt ceiling raised before he takes office to avoid dealing with it during his administration.

Johnson’s push for this particular funding bill — over a stopgap measure — is meant to avoid revisiting the issue in a few months and to make space for the MAGA agenda. But Musk has thrown a wrench into those plans. With MAGA hardliners already balking at the bill’s size and scope, Musk’s veto all but sealed its fate. Now, the government teeters on the edge of a shutdown just days before Christmas. Worse, there’s even talk of replacing Johnson as Speaker in the new year, with Rand Paul floating none other than Elon Musk for the role.

Musk seems to want the government to shut down until January 20th, believing it won’t cause harm. However, the last shutdown cost the economy $3 billion and could jeopardize an extension of the farm bill and $100 billion in disaster aid. On top of that, Trump has insisted that any new funding bill include a debt ceiling extension—a move likely to alienate a significant number of Republicans who have never supported such measures.

At this point, Johnson has few options. The Democrats won’t help, and without the pork Musk objected to, bipartisan support is off the table. While some suggest tying a two-year debt-limit extension to the funding bill, Trump’s unpredictability makes this an unreliable strategy. Johnson’s inability to bring the bill to the floor or navigate the GOP’s divisions has left him damaged and increasingly isolated.

Someone in the Republican Party will have to blink, but for now, it’s beginning to look like Musk is calling the shots. That won’t sit well with Trump, who’s likely seething over jokes about “President Musk.”

The chaos is back. MAGA may celebrate for now, but the rest of the country will be completely exhausted by it before Trump even takes office. But this is what the voters asked for — a guy who has already admitted there’s nothing he can do to lower grocery prices (the very thing he ran on), who is also very good at sewing confusion and distrust, the last thing we need for a stable economy.

Air traffic controllers are going to have to work without pay on Christmas because the richest person in the world bullied Congress with a bunch of mean tweets. Definitely not the best way to run a country.

— Andrew Weinstein (@andrewjweinstein.com) December 19, 2024 at 12:25 AM