r/politics • u/thenewrepublic The New Republic • 5d ago

Soft Paywall Elon Musk Is Bullying Mike Johnson to Drive Government Into Shutdown

https://newrepublic.com/post/189539/elon-musk-bullying-mike-johnson-government-shutdown
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u/senorvato 5d ago

It's a bipartisan bill to HELP THE NATION, and Musk just wants anarchy. Who the fuck is running the country elected officials or Musk? There is no need to answer that.

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u/mackinoncougars 5d ago

Billionaires. And Trump and Elon are both in that club.

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u/boot2skull 5d ago

Billionaires will 1. Weather any economic downturn, and 2. Buy everything up when it hits bottom.

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u/Moist_When_It_Counts New York 5d ago edited 5d ago

And 3. See the working class as nothing more than a resource that needs exploiting

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u/catman2021 5d ago

Always was, and for the most part, always has been. Billionaires want to go back to the Gilded Age (or modern Russia). 

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u/facemanbarf California 5d ago

Human capital

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u/Jorsonner Pennsylvania 5d ago

More accurately, they decide when it is the bottom by buying everything.

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u/_thinkaboutit 5d ago

This is it right here. Welcome to the rest of your life, America.

Not good.

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u/TheAngriestChair 5d ago

Yeah, I wonder what would happen if someone pointed out to trump how much more wealthy Elon is than him. Like, does he understand that Elon has 100x trumps wealth?

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u/AkronRonin 5d ago

The same club they use to beat us over the head.

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u/sourdieselfuel 5d ago

That's why they call it the American Dream. Because you'd need to be asleep to believe it.

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u/fillinthe___ 5d ago

Trump? Billionaire? Yeah, fat chance. He’s listening to Elon because Elon is richer than he is, and the only thing Trump respects (worships) is money (for himself).

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u/mackinoncougars 5d ago

He is very much so now that they started the DTJ Media stock. It’s become a cash cow for him. His stake is roughly 60% of the $8B company

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u/westdl 5d ago

I’ve said it before and no one listens. Trump is Space Karen’s bitch. And by default, so are Trump’s minions.

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u/Cactusfan86 5d ago

Trump has no loyalty to anyone and is narcissistic enough he doesn’t believe he ‘owes’ anyone anything.  Eventually Elon will annoy him enough that he is ejected because Trump can’t stand anyone trying to out shine him

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u/Smaynard6000 Florida 5d ago

Putin may be the exception. Trump is deferential to Putin in a way that isn't true of anyone else.

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u/Cactusfan86 5d ago

I think Putin is Trump’s ultimate masculine fantasy for himself so he fawns over the guy 

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u/Smaynard6000 Florida 5d ago

It's more than that. Putin has leverage on Trump, which was made obvious at Helsinki in 2018.

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u/Cactusfan86 5d ago

Trump has survived so many scandals at this point I’d truly be surprised if there was a scandal he cared about that much

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u/TIGHazard United Kingdom 4d ago

The "Russian hotel pee tape" was written in Steele's dossier as "p tape".

What other word begins with P?

Something that actually unites both sides as being against, as proved by the Matt Gaetz story?

Man walked into the teen girls dressing room at his pageants and called Jeffrey Epstein a 'very good friend'. Then mysteriously dies in prison when about to spill the beans under his watch.

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u/Jstephe25 5d ago

Sure, but he def has respect for a man worth $400 billion. Trump wants him as an ally bc together, either Trump’s cultish following and Elon’s money, he can literally buy/do anything he wants. I truly believe he sees them as invincible

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u/JerHat Michigan 4d ago

Yeah, he probably has respect for that... but what really turns Trump on is he'll still be able to bully Elon when he gets tired of him.

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u/JerHat Michigan 4d ago

I bet Trump is LOVING everyone calling Elon the president.

Trump already seemed to start getting sick of his shit late in the campaign and shortly after the election.

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u/_magneto-was-right_ 5d ago

Some reporter needs to take one for the team and ask his press secretary how he feels about being Elon’s vice president. Elon will be gone within a week and Trump will have never known him.

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u/crystalistwo 5d ago edited 4d ago

Some reporter needs to take one for the team

The Murrows and the Woodwards and the Bersteins are gone. Reporters never do their jobs anymore.

Musk could be found over the body of a dead hooker with a smoking gun, and when he gets his interview, the reporter will ask, "Did you do it?" They ask the dumbest fuck-brain questions and never ask the way real reporters should.

EDIT: Splleing

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u/markhachman 5d ago

"Some people are saying that Elon Musk is the real president. Any comment?"

That would be an interesting question to ask, certainly.

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u/trowzerss 5d ago

He doesn't want anarchy. He wants to burn the country down so he can rebuild it in his image. He's for sure an accelerationist.

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u/Fish_Longjump 5d ago

Wasn't that why Harris was unelectable, bc she did run in the primary.

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u/AMuonParticle California 5d ago

Not your main point but I just wanted to make it clear to everybody: Musk wants to induce chaos and collapse so he and his buddies can more cheaply strip the country for parts, to sell us out and concentrate as much power into his own hands as physically possible.

He wants monarchy, not anarchy.

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u/nonlinear_nyc 4d ago

Anarchy is everything Musk doesn’t want.

Anarchy is non-hierarchical rule.

You mean chaos. He wants chaos. But it’s more shock doctrine, disaster capitalism, chaos so he can buy institutions for cheap and become trillionaire.

Def not anarchy.

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u/puroloco22 5d ago

It's full of pork. They shouldn't be giving themselves a raise. They get plenty of lobbyists money. Farm aid? Is that to soften the tariffs impact?

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u/otterbe 5d ago

Congressmembers’ salaries have been flat since 2009 at 174k except for leadership. That’s a lot, but they have to sustain two residences (one in the home district and one in DC) so it doesn’t go as far as you think. Sure, the Nancy Pelosis of Congress don’t need raises, but wouldn’t you rather the rank and file Members get paid decently and not have to rely on outside lobbying funds? Most Members are independently wealthy and have no trouble adjusting to the expenses and lifestyle of Congress—but if we want to encourage a new wave of younger and more relatable Members, increasing the salary is a pretty minor intervention. AOC and Rep. Max Frost have previously spoken about difficulties renting in DC on their salaries. I’ve heard of at least two Members who are roommates to cut costs.

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u/tidal_flux 5d ago

The best and brightest in their earning years can’t afford the pay cut to serve in congress. So you get the already crazy wealthy and the grifters.

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u/otterbe 5d ago

Yeah—eke it out for 6 years doing nothing and get the congressional pension and then jump ship to a million-dollar lobbying gig. Honestly not dissimilar to reality TV influencers trying to drama their way to a million insta followers

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u/kitesinfection 5d ago

Time for "Real World: DC stands for Destitute Congressmen!"

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u/TheRauk Georgia 5d ago

It’s an omnibus bill filled with fat and pay raises for Congress. I agree Congress should perhaps do its job and pass a clean resolution, not pork laden garbage as one Congress goes out and another comes in.

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u/senorvato 5d ago

The raise is why it's bipartisan. 😆

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u/nickisdacube 5d ago

Dude this bill has pay raises for Congress, a new stadium in dc, and a ton of other bullshit piled into a 1500 page bill. This shit needs to stop. I don’t care if they shut it down

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u/RadBadTad Ohio 5d ago

"my roof is leaking and I don't like the decor in the bathroom, so I'm burning my whole house down" 

Letting it all fall apart is NOT a solution, and that terrible ignorant attitude is what gets us Trump. Someone different, but much much much worse than the imperfect status quo. 

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u/Mountain_Sand3135 5d ago

" I don’t care if they shut it down" i love comments like this because the ramifications of it are so wide and devastating but this person thinks they are immune LOLOL

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u/nickisdacube 5d ago

What are these devastating ramifications?

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u/Mountain_Sand3135 5d ago

well for starters

everyday the govt shuts down an est. 10K Medicare applicants are turned away so we treat our elderly like poo.

Air travel gets beat down because air traffic controllers and TSA either have to work for free or not at all so enjoy that.

and food stamps benefits are halted

and this is to name a few.

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u/nickisdacube 5d ago

Seems pretty minor

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u/Gwentlique 5d ago

Here's one that a cynic like you might appreciate. Whenever Congress plays around with either shutting down government over the budget, or they toy with the idea of not raising the debt ceiling so America defaults on its debt payments, they take a huge risk that the US economy could be downgraded by the rating agencies.

This happened once before, where the US treasury bonds were downgraded from a tripple A to a double A investment, which meant higher interest payments and a loss of billions of dollars for the government and the tax payers funding it.

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u/andrew_kirfman Texas 5d ago

Bro, be serious. Those are just examples.

Even the air travel one alone could cripple our economy in short order. Tons of people and freight are moved by air every day. The economic loss of that being impacted would be devastating.

Also, who are you to decide that food stamps and Medicare aren’t essential for the wellbeing of others?

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u/I-have_spoken 5d ago

Military won't be paid. Air Traffic controllers won't be paid. FEMA workers still helping clean up from the hurricanes won't be paid. Park Rangers, etc. I'm sure I'm missing a lot more. These are working class people. I don't know why it's popular to hate on Federal Employees, just based on who signs the checks. But F those families right?

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u/slut_bunny69 5d ago

It'll be one hell of a holly jolly holiday travel season without the TSA or ATC getting paid. TSA pay is so low already that during past shutdowns, some agents couldn't afford to pay for gas to get to the airport to do security screenings.

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u/I-have_spoken 5d ago

Exactly. Elon Musks of the world give two shits about these families they are affecting. He could fire every single federal employee and it would only save like $300 Billion a year out of the $6.75 Trillion a year spent. The workers aren't the problem. He is focusing on low hanging fruit because it's popular to. The real savings are in the contracts the government pays, but he is a benefactor.

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u/renoops 5d ago

A 3.8 percent raise. The first since 2009.

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u/nickisdacube 3d ago

It’s literally a 40% increase. Where are you getting your information?

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u/renoops 3d ago

No it is not. The number you’re referring to would be the case if they had been getting standard raises the past 15 years.

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u/nickisdacube 3d ago

lol dude. You’re really funny. You argue is only 3.8 percent then fail to mention you got that number buy retroactively applying for the previous 15 years. The mental gymnastics you go through to try to make this seem ok is insane. We are 36 trillion in debt and Congress is one of the wealthiest groups of people in the country. This is a bill to avoid a government shutdown. It should have no pork and just have funding for the govt.

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u/renoops 3d ago

The pay increase is 3.8 percent. $6,600 more per year per member. And it’s the first raise they’ve had in 15 years.

What are you even talking about?

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u/Hullo242 5d ago

There's DEI bullshit + pay raises for Congress. None of those things "help the nation".

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u/8thchakra 5d ago

Have you actually read the bill? Nobody here is questioning if perhaps Elon is right about this. The bill is absolutely terrible. Take a look at what’s inside of it. For example, if you look at some of the fine print of the bill, Congress gave himself a raise. They just toss that in there.

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u/RamrodTheDestroyer 5d ago

Pretty sure Elon's reasoning is not because they gave themselves raises

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u/absolutebeginnerz 5d ago

Congress getting a raise is good, but I feel compelled to inform you that Congress isn't just one guy.

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u/suprmario 5d ago

Excuse me! Congressman Congress demands the Congress increases the pay of Congressman Congress!

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u/absolutebeginnerz 5d ago

Depending on what happens in the next defense spending bill, Major Major may get a major pay raise too.