Elon Musk flexes his political strength as US government shutdown looms

WASHINGTON – When US President-elect Donald Trump picked “the Great Elon Musk”, the world’s richest man, to slash government spending and waste, he mused that the effort might be “the Manhattan Project of our time”.

By Dec 19, that prediction looked spot on. Wielding the social media platform he bought for US$44 billion (S$60 billion) in 2022, Mr Musk detonated a rhetorical nuclear bomb in the middle of government shutdown negotiations on Capitol Hill.

In more than 150 separate posts on X, starting before dawn on Dec 18, he demanded that Republicans back away from a bipartisan spending deal meant to avoid a government shutdown over Christmas.

Mr Musk vowed political retribution against anyone voting for the sprawling Bill backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called him on Dec 18 to ask that he stop posting about the Bill.

Mr Musk also shared misinformation about the Bill, including false claims that it contained new aid for Ukraine or US$3 billion in funds for a new stadium in Washington.

By the end of Dec 18, Trump issued a statement, calling the Bill “a betrayal of our country”.

It was a remarkable moment for Mr Musk, who has never been elected to public office but now appears to be the largest megaphone for the man about to retake the Oval Office. Larger than Trump himself, whose vaunted social media presence is dwarfed by that of Mr Musk.

The President-elect has 96.2 million followers on X, while Mr Musk has 207.9 million. (He is far richer than Trump. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is worth US$458 billion, while Trump is worth a mere US$6.61 billion.)

This week marked the first time Mr Musk has been able to use his website as a digital whip, driving lawmakers to support his desired outcome.

His actions prompted a backlash from some lawmakers, who recoiled at his interference in the legislative process.

Some accused him of acting more like the president or vice-president than a billionaire executive.

“Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government,” Senator Bernie Sanders, who has long criticised the power of wealthy business executives, wrote on X. “The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government.”

Representative Glenn Thompson, chair of the Agriculture Committee, told reporters he “didn’t see where Musk has a voting card”.

Trump sought to reclaim control of the political debate on Dec 19 morning, issuing a threat of sorts to Mr Johnson that he must not give in to Democrats as he tries to find a way to keep the government operating without incurring the wrath of Mr Musk.

“If the Speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain Speaker,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

On Dec 19 evening, Trump endorsed a new effort by Mr Johnson to avoid a government shutdown with a spending plan that suspends the nation’s debt limit for two years.

In a social media post, the President-elect wrote that “all Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!”

Hours later, that spending deal failed to pass in the House, with 38 Republicans voting against the measure.

Trump tasked Mr Musk to rein in an out-of-control bureaucracy when he named him to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, with Mr Vivek Ramaswamy, another billionaire.

Both men are among a string of tech billionaires who have flocked to Trump’s Florida estate in recent weeks to cultivate their relationships with him.

Many House Republicans are deeply frustrated by Mr Musk’s involvement in spending negotiations and concerned about his threat to find primary challengers to take on any lawmakers who vote for a spending Bill he does not like.

Lawmakers said they were alarmed and that they have never seen a donor outwardly exact so much influence on policy after his preferred candidate won an election.

They are also stuck taking their cues from Mr Musk’s social media feeds, where he is promoting members who are in agreement with him.

Despite his occasional presence on the Hill and in his role leading Doge, Mr Musk does not interact directly with many members of Congress. Mr Ramaswamy has been the one talking directly with them.

On the House floor on Dec 19, lawmakers were fuming that Mr Musk is not a member of Congress and is exerting too much influence on their proceedings.

Mr Thompson, who was deeply involved in negotiating direct payments for farmers that are now effectively dead because of Mr Musk, said: “I’m not sure he understands the plight of the normal working people right now.”

Conservative Republicans, however, rallied behind Mr Musk’s barrage of posts. Representative Andy Barr told Fox News: “This is exactly what the American people voted for when they voted for Donald Trump.”

After Mr Musk threatened on X to “vote out” any member who voted for the spending Bill, Representative Dan Bishop cheered. “In five years in Congress, I’ve been awaiting a fundamental change in the dynamic,” he wrote online. “It has arrived.”

Some Republicans went so far as to suggest the party should replace Mr Johnson with Mr Musk as Speaker, noting that Speaker candidates do not have to be a sitting member of Congress to win the gavel.

“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on social media. “The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way.” NYTIMES