Using the power of the social media platform he owns and the threat of spending millions against Republicans in primaries, Elon Musk effectively tanked a bipartisan congressional spending bill that would have kept the government running.
After their initial failure at Musk’s hands, House Republicans on Thursday scrambled to put together another deal, which they said would provide a few months of spending and, according to reports, suspend the debt limit at Donald Trump’s request. The pared-down spending bill failed to pass the US House in a vote on Thursday evening.
The world’s richest man flexed the muscle he gained during the 2024 election, in which he spent big to help elect Trump and spread rightwing rumors on X. Since the spending bill was introduced, Musk has fired off tweet after tweet attacking it, amplifying false claims about what it includes and dooming its fate.
“‘Shutting down’ the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” Musk wrote in one post.
He and the account for the “department of government efficiency” or Doge, a government body that Trump says he’ll create , claimed the bill would significantly raise pay for members of Congress – it wouldn’t. He claimed it includes funding for bioweapons – it does not. He erroneously shared that it would direct billions for a stadium in DC. He offensively used the word “retard” to joke about language changes in the bill, then joked further about his use of the word.
Trump and the vice-president-elect JD Vance opposed the bill, releasing a statement about it, but did not speak out publicly to nearly the degree Musk did. Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt responded to the Muskmania by boosting her boss as the party’s leader. “As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican party. Full stop,” she said.
Musk urged people to contact their lawmakers to kill the bill. And when the bill was effectively killed, he claimed the victory was the voice of the people: “America is for you, the beloved people.”
Musk has no formal role in the second Trump administration aside from being tapped to helm an external group, but he showed this week the extreme influence he has on the party – and on the incoming presidency.
The ordeal is a sign of what’s to come for Musk in his influential role, with a social media platform he can use to go after those he disagrees with. His tweets receive millions of impressions and signal to the rightwing online ecosystem what the lines of attack will be.
He has indicated this is just the beginning, saying no bill should be passed until Trump takes office. He also promised that his group has “no choice” but to go after public servants because “unless @DOGE ends the careers of deceitful, pork-barrel politicians, the waste and corruption will never stop”.
Congressional Republicans mostly cheered him on. Rand Paul, the senator from Kentucky, suggested on Thursday morning that Musk should become the speaker of the House, noting that the speaker doesn’t have to be a member of Congress, as it is traditionally.
“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk … think about it … nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds),” Paul wrote on X.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman, said she was open to the idea of Musk as speaker. “DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency. The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way,” she wrote on X.
Democrats called Musk the president, the co-president and the fourth branch of government, saying he’s shown he’s more powerful than Trump, according to Axios. Mark Pocan, a Democratic representative from Wisconsin, created AI images of Musk controlling Trump, including one where Musk is being sworn in by the incoming president. “We just returned from the future and got this photo from the inauguration,” Pocan wrote.
One piece of misinformation Musk perpetuated about the bill is that it would have given lawmakers an eye-popping 40% raise, bringing their pay from $174,000 to $243,000. This is not true – it does include a cost-of-living raise of 3.8%, or $6,600. The Doge tweet claiming the massive increase has not been corrected.
Dan Crenshaw, a Republican Texas congressman, was caught in the rumor mill of the pay raise. Some accounts claimed he was the one pushing for the raise, which Crenshaw said was false. He responded to those accounts by calling one a “fucking lying piece of shit” and “fucking incel”, and another an “anonymous coward” who was “talking shit without any evidence”.
Musk responded to the claims of Crenshaw’s involvement by saying “Congress should only get a raise when the budget is balanced”.
Crenshaw then came back at Musk with: “I love you Elon but you need to take 5 seconds to check your sources before highlighting bottom feeders looking for clicks.”
