Billionaire Elon Musk played an instrumental role in taking down the Continuing Resolution (CR) aimed at averting a government shutdown after Friday at midnight, using his massive reach on social media to show his discontent with the bill.
He was quickly backed by a growing number of Republican lawmakers and even President-elect Donald Trump, who came out to say he was "totally against" the CR, making it extremely unlikely to pass. Some in the GOP have also been suggesting he be elected Speaker of the House, considering the post doesn't need to be occupied by an elected official.
As the uncertainty about government funding grows, Democrats have come out to criticize Musk's growing influence in the Republican party, with Senator Bernie Sanders even referring to him as "President Elon Musk."
"Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn't like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring?" Sanders wrote in a scathing X post. "Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government," he concluded.
Other officials made similar comments: ""He's president and Trump is now vice president," said Rep. Jim McGovern. "If this is the type of power he has, then he is going to be the unelected co-president of this country and we've got to be super blunt about it," added Rep. Maxwell Frost.
Rep. Mark Pocan from Wisconsin also mocked Republicans for following Musk's lead, but also anticipated this trend will become an issue down the line. "This is going to turn out to be an epic problem at some point for Donald Trump — the two biggest egos on the planet colliding thinking they are in charge," the lawmaker told Axios.
"Donald Trump at some point is not going to accept that. So I'm just going to invest in popcorn for the next year."
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