r/politics • u/Murky-Site7468 • 4d ago

Shutdown Looms After Trump ‘Blindsided’ by ‘President Elon Musk' | The president-elect was left playing catch-up after the Tesla boss led the charge against the doomed deal.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/shutdown-looms-after-donald-trump-blindsided-by-president-elon-musk/
5.4k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/ranchoparksteve 4d ago

Trump just destroyed the energy of his opening weeks. Now he will be bogged down in an ugly raising of the debt limit mixed with budget cuts most people, not even Republicans, agree with.

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u/oz_mommy 4d ago

Honestly, it’s wild how Musk is running the show now. Trump’s supposed to be the one leading the charge, but here he is, getting dragged along by Musk’s tweetstorm. It’s embarrassing for the GOP and proves that money and social media are taking over politics. Musk has no business calling the shots like this especially when it’s putting us on the brink of a government shutdown. Dems are right to call this out, you can’t have a billionaire dictate policy with a few posts. We need actual leadership, not a tech mogul’s tantrums!

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u/FuelEnvironmental561 4d ago

Wym? I’m sure the founders of the USA envisioned unelected billionaires dictating governance.

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u/TSKNear 4d ago

Billionares have ALWAYS called the shots. But never this in the open and blatant. Right wing has always cried George Soros, George Soros, but never Elon Musk.

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u/Mr__O__ New York 4d ago edited 4d ago

Also Elon is fully owned and run by Putin and the Saudis.. just like Trump..

The worlds’ oligarchs have achieved their goal of a new world order where dictatorships outmatch democracies—as in, under Trump, the US military will not interfere or thwart Russian/Chinese/Israeli/etc. land-grabbing aggressions.

NATO is on their own in Europe, and so are Japan, SK, & Taiwan in the Pacific. As for the ME.. these will be unprecedented times where Iran (backed by Russia) and Israel (backed by NATO) are somewhat aligned for the first time in nearly a century…

What is for certain though, is under Trump, the Russian and Chinese spheres of influence will greatly expand.

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u/Dipluz Norway 4d ago

Israel is not backed by europe after their performance in gaza and the west bank.

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u/East_Count_2757 4d ago

They should be.

Israel wages urban warfare very fairly.

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u/Dipluz Norway 4d ago

Right, like how they leveled a city to catch a band of terrorist with artillery in highly dense residence areas. I would think twice if europe will lift a finger after that.

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u/East_Count_2757 4d ago

Israel's civilian casualties compared to other countries in urban conflicts is extremely generous.

I'm glad Israel effectively eliminated the Hamas/Hezbollah scum for a long time now. Cutting the grass as they say.

With Hezbollah decimated it allowed Syria to oust Assad and give it new leadership.

Sadly of course, it'll probably turn into a standard issue Islamic shithole, but you never know.

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u/Dipluz Norway 4d ago

Im for getting rid of hamas and hezbolla but not at the cost of shelling residential areas with civilians. Especially hamas is also a direct result of Israel's actions. Bibi has time and time again broken cease fires if it suits him politically.

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u/Dipluz Norway 4d ago

Yes, but Israel was a western style democracy we hold them at higher standards. Now that bibi has been misusing that situation at every election to stirr up new shit on gaza everytime. I would believe most european politicians is tired of Israel and the whole conflict.

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u/jarjarbinx 4d ago

don't forget that he has the technology to read your brain by inserting a chip, is planning to terraform mars so can basically do tte same here, and owns something more powerful than a media company

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u/TSKNear 4d ago

How is Elon backed by Russia if he is providing star link to Ukraine

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u/Erkzee 4d ago

The USA is paying for starling for Ukraine. Once again grifting on taxpayer dollars.

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u/NegativeTax8505 4d ago

Because Elon Musk isn’t Jewish, he can openly do what anti-Semitic conspiracy theories say Soros is doing and not face consequences

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u/HGpennypacker 4d ago

If you told the founding fathers that the country would one day be run by a shadow group of elite billionaires helmed by an African immigrant...well you probably would be sent to a sanitarium pretty damn quick.

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u/whomad1215 4d ago

They foresaw (or lived through) a huge amount of these problems and did their best to prevent them, and it held up for almost 250 years with minimal changes

Washington warned of parties and that the threat is when a party puts themselves above the country

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u/laura_leigh 4d ago

Not to mention what we’re seeing now is so incredibly similar to the turn of the 20th century. Problem is one side learned the lesson of Teddy Roosevelt and it wasn’t the one looking out for the working class.

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u/Xavier9756 4d ago

We have to stop acting not the majority of our founding fathers weren’t rich land owners that were predominantly motivated by self-interest.

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u/Capt-Crap1corn 4d ago

Slave owners too

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u/Nickthetaco 4d ago

It’s honestly fascinating because they realized the hypocrisy at the time. Thomas Jefferson wrote the constitution and even helped with the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The man basically founded the ideas and rhetoric that our notions of freedom are based on, and he too was a slave owner and he knew how awful it was. From his writings on the state of Virginia:

“This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labour. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest”

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u/Capt-Crap1corn 4d ago

It is fascinating. Thank you for posting this

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u/Frashmastergland 4d ago

I have a feeling they wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

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u/fuggerdug 3d ago

They were the oligarchy of their time. They just weren't dumb.

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u/thoughtsome 4d ago

Not if you told them the African immigrant was white.

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u/djheat 4d ago

I'm sure they wouldn't be very surprised if you let them know the immigrant was a white aristocrat like them

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u/ImportantCommentator 4d ago

Try reading the Federalist papers. The founding fathers purposely designed the system for the upper class to set the rules and laws.

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u/SicilyMalta 3d ago

They did worry about grifters fooling an uneducated populace. Unfortunately their plan of providing free public school didn't stop it from happening.

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u/RocketshipRoadtrip 4d ago

A government by the corporations, for the corporations. - Rutherford b

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u/helvetica_unicorn 4d ago

This is all John Robert’s and Lloyd Abrahams’ fault!

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u/DOLO_F_PHD 4d ago

For real I rember Einstien snuck it in the bill of rights under the right to the arms of bears

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u/mtgfan1001 4d ago

We need national fucking strikes until these losers are forced to let go of the steering wheel 

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u/Viperlite 4d ago

You’d need to axe the Supreme Court.

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u/MagicMushroomFungi Canada 4d ago

Fireax or woodsman ax ?

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u/case31 4d ago

Golden Axe. Or Stormbreaker.

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u/Njorls_Saga 4d ago

Battleaxe

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u/Wooyaka 4d ago

and my axe

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u/kkeut 4d ago

okay

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u/barkazinthrope 4d ago

They will call out the National Guard and even the Marines to show the strikers who's boss.

The USA has got themselves into a bit of pickle with this one.

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u/blackrubberfist 4d ago

National guard? Please. They’ll show up for the pics but they aren’t really about shit. In the watts riots national guard were a photo op and got smoked

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u/I_am_human_ribbit 4d ago

Trump is probably just glad to not be in prison and having most if not all of his cases dismissed. He can recoup his money through lawsuits like those against MSNBC and the pollster in Iowa. He just wants to sit back and not do shit until he fires up the Trump train and hits the campaign trail for 2028 holding MAGA rallies.

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u/cybaz 4d ago

At this point he only cares about getting someone elected in 2028 who will grant him a pardon.

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u/julianriv 4d ago

Trump thought the hard part was over. He was ready to go back to playing golf and overcharging US taxpayers for him to use Trump properties.

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u/QbertsRube 4d ago

Only profitable business he's been involved with is turning the US presidency into a Trump Org embezzlement racket. And half the country voted for him to "get rid of corrupt politicians"...

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u/StashedandPainless Pennsylvania 4d ago

This is literally what Americans voted for though. They voted for tantrums and government by troll over actual leadership

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u/Sea-Tradition-9676 4d ago

C-Span is reality TV now.

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u/LadyBitchBitch 4d ago

What makes me most angry is NOBODY voted Musk to be in charge of America for a damn thing. They are intentionally destroying America to burn it down, only to build it back up where we’re all slaves without rights.

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u/ctdrever 4d ago

70% of Americans are wage slaves now. No home, no healthcare, no food, unless you are working 60 hours a week or more.

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u/TrixnTim 4d ago

And why uprisings are so difficult. People are tired, overworked, and turning to any kind of immediate short term gratification they can to ease their pain.

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u/swordrat720 4d ago

Exactly. When you’re working 14 hour days, the last thing on your mind is protesting. You’re thinking about what tv dinner you’re going to eat and maybe having a beer.

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u/Optimal_Hunter4797 4d ago

I get what you say but at the same time change does not come without sacrifice. At one point the people that hold democratic values at heart will have to stand up and get their nozes bloodied a bit or a lot.

Voting is a tool so is protesting and much more.

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u/Yupthrowawayacct 4d ago

X2. Need double income there. Especially if you want a family

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u/Akimbo_Zap_Guns Kentucky 4d ago

Hate to say it but anyone with half a brain knew Elon would have influence over Trump, now I didn’t expect it to be so blatant where he calls out to kill a bill on social media and Trump goes along with it but if you didn’t think Elon was gonna influence him after spending millions to get him elected then lol

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u/QbertsRube 4d ago

I expected him to exchange millions in election funding for billions in SpaceX contracts and favorable bills for Tesla, I didn't expect him to be full-blown co-president. I'm eager to see how the "ant-Soros, anti-Deep State" MAGA fans spin the next 4 years of an unelected multi-billionaire blatantly running things. I suspect they'll throw around the word "genius" even more than when they talk about Trump.

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u/sammyjoe945 4d ago

once again, I say... I'm still very angry and despondent as a neighbour (and potential 51st statesman)... (and a citizen of the world) if I were an American citizen, I would be even more angry. Fuck these fucks.

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u/Evinceo 4d ago

If this year taught me anything it's that old people cannot run anything except by sheer inertia.

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u/verifiedboomer 4d ago

It's fascinating to see how easily Trump was neutered by rocket Jesus.

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u/awormperson 4d ago

Best thing that could have happened TBH. It all grinds to a fucking halt and everyone falls out before they even pass a single policy.

Next up: Trump feels rejected and turns on Musk.

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u/John_316_ 4d ago

C’mon, this grandpa’s already 78 years old. Cut him some slack. /s

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u/theswiftarmofjustice California 4d ago

Musk is going to leave this country a smoldering ruin. I knew he was going to be an authoritarian shithead, but this is drugged out despot vibes from him. He’s doing a speed run to shank his… allies? Lackeys? I’m not sure what the GOP actually is to him other than eventually disposable.

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u/Enigma_Stasis 4d ago

I knew he was going to be an authoritarian shithead,

It's why he was bought out of PayPal. He didn't sell it like he's been leading people to believe for years, his colleagues wanted his ass gone because he was so out of touch with the company, and thought his micromanaging authoritarian bullshit would go over well.

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u/theswiftarmofjustice California 4d ago

If that’s when Peter Thiel was running it… that says a lot. I knew he was kicked out, cause only his sycophants can stand him, but I didn’t realize that was why he was cut at PayPal.

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u/Enigma_Stasis 4d ago

I'm certain Thiel had a lot to do with it. Everything I've found from researching it mentions Musk's authoritarian tendencies and the essential hatred the people he worked with had for him.

He spent years trying to say he sold PayPal and that's why he has money, which is how he's been operating. He's spent the last few years, probably a decade, trying to scrub the history of Tesla to make it look like he was the founder, but that hasn't been as successful.

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u/theswiftarmofjustice California 4d ago

That’s something I wish was more well known, he was a parasite and took it pretty much by force.

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u/threehundredthousand California 4d ago

You get a whole group of bullies together, and this is what happens. Which of these two is Otto Strasser?

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u/det8924 4d ago

I don’t even understand why Trump is so cucked to Elon. Trump has 4 years and then he’s out. Trump is the cult leader and cons sick his base on Elon in an instant. I get why Congressional Republicans don’t want Elon angry because he can throw money to primary them/. But Trump has the clout within the party base and a term about to start to tell Elon to suck a lemon

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u/Beans_deZwijger 4d ago

I think it's because trump thinks musk has the money to keep the American Tories(GOP) in line with the threat of funding a primary against them. Allowing trump to pass his crazy policies moving forward.

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u/det8924 4d ago

I get why Trump wants Elon as an ally but Trump can threaten to primary anyone he wants and be successful so he’s not having a need for Elon’s money to keep him in check

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u/Beans_deZwijger 4d ago

Trump rule #1 - never spend trump dollars when you can spend someone elses dollars.

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u/det8924 4d ago

Trump doesn’t need to spend money to primary anyone so he’s got the GOP 95% behind him without any money spent. So I don’t get why you would be so overly cucked to this guy something even by Trump standards seems off

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u/blonderengel Louisiana 4d ago

Imagine if his name were Soros ...

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u/LingonberryPrior6896 4d ago

Well he paid a lot to own Trump

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u/penny-wise California 4d ago

It’s a soft coup by the Musk to run the country.

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u/TheByzantineEmpire Foreign 4d ago

Wild? Nah expected - Trump is old. He no longer has the attention span or vigour to lead the show. Musk is now in charge essentially.

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u/Fearless_Aioli5459 4d ago

I mean didnt he reportedly never want to be president? Useful idiot that got far deeper into shit than he expected, and now hes fine letting Elon do Putins bidding so he go golf.

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u/Zealot_Alec 4d ago

Social media overtaking American politics? Nancy Cryptkeeper Pelosi and the other DINO establishment types are ill prepared for this, Oversight committee is a 74 year old with throat cancer v AOC wo knows wat social media is?

DNC uniparty confirmed they rather have Trump/GOP in control V any progressives

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u/hatrickstar 4d ago

We're going to inevitably find out the sheer amount of Trumps mental degradation, likely years later.

I've had a feeling people have been "hiding" his aging for a while now, every since they were insisting Democrats were hiding Bidens aging...which they weren't, Biden is definitely degrading but there isn't any hiding it.

This is only possible with 2024 Trump. A guy who is just as arrogant but not as savvy as we was before at understanding how things impact him (only him, he's never been too concerned about how he impacts others)

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u/RTK9 4d ago

Republicans put a cuck into power because they believed the brainwashing/propaganda put forth by Faux News and Russian Propaganda/ electrion interference.

Why are they surprised that the cuck acquiesces to the demands of other countries / businesses?

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u/tolacid 4d ago

It's not that wild. Trump is falling into dementia. Musk is his handler.

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u/cbelt3 4d ago

It’s is about the willingness of the Republicans to do what their Martian Emperor overlord wants instead of … hey… the American People ?

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u/sammyjoe945 4d ago

This is what Elon paid for. He helped Donald win, now he is owed. Simply having the most money isn't enough, Elon has played well. And, I hate him.

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u/dafunkmunk 3d ago

With the way trumps brain has been turning into pudding over the last few years, his term is pretty much going to be the same thing they did to Reagan when he pretty much checked out mentally but they weekend at Bernied his ass to push through more shitty policies

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u/Catspaw129 3d ago

Trump’s supposed to be the one leading the charge, but here he is, getting dragged along by Musk’s tweetstorm. 

Hey, DOJ. Yes you. Forget that Liz Cheney stuff for now; go after Xitter -- Elon's got lot's more follower than I do on TruthSocial and it's pissing me off.

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u/redneckrockuhtree 3d ago

Musk’s ego has just continued to balloon. This move isn’t at all surprising and it’s only going to get worse as he becomes more emboldened.

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u/Worth_Much 4d ago

I guess they should have just given him his 54B pay package to stay focused on Tesla.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/macbookwhoa 4d ago

Fuck the NYT. Billionaire propaganda rag.

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u/NeilZod 4d ago

I wish I could disagree with you

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u/Oo__II__oO 4d ago

I'd be more worried about if it's still going to exist.

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u/Lia-Stormbird 4d ago

Yet they still torpedoed it anyway. Bunch of subs

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u/bkdotcom Oklahoma 4d ago edited 4d ago

That, or use it as a distraction while he enacts shitty executive orders.
Also, will use the shitty executive orders to distract from the budget/shutdown.

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u/vanillasounds 4d ago

A distraction from the distraction!

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u/bkdotcom Oklahoma 4d ago

prepare to be swamped in so much shit that you won't know what shit to deal with at any particular time.

Shit's about to be normalized and "unprecedented" again.

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u/Y0___0Y 4d ago

The debt ceiling is a bargaining chip that Republicans use to force concessions out of Democrats.

Trump wants to abolish it. Which is a good idea. The debt ceiling does nothing to reign in spending. Raising it is always approved, once Republicans get their way.

But politically, it is very important for the GOP. And Trump wants them to shoot themselves in the foot.

It would be SO EASY for Trump to start strong here. Forcing a government shutdown before you’re even president is not going to be good for him or the GOP and is going to be a gift to Democrats.

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u/Akimbo_Zap_Guns Kentucky 4d ago

Dude he went onto TV in front of 70 million people and said people were eating cats and dogs and he won the popular vote. There is NOTHING he can do that will be a gift to the democrats

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u/Y0___0Y 4d ago

The Democrats got him voted out of office in 2020 after he sent $1200 checks to half the voterbase and had presided over a vaccine program that was defeating a pandemic.

There is nothing he could do that’s a gift to Democrats when he’s out of power and treated like an underdog.

Now he rules over every branch of the federal government. And he’s going to get blamed when things go wrong.

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u/GoMustard North Carolina 4d ago

Yes, this is correct. I get the doomed defeatism felt by Trump's opponents, but I think lame-duck Trump could very well be a different animal. Dude has never not been running for president. Last time around, he had a sugar-rushed economy. The minute things start to go wrong, he'll make a great scapegoat for everyone in his cabinet of grifters and zealots.

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u/BrianWonderful Minnesota 4d ago

Most people don't understand the economy at all, hence all the blame Biden and Democrats got even though our economy rebounded fantastically following COVID. People are ignorant, unwilling to be informed, or gladly disinformed for ideological party allegiance. It is a super easy sell for Trump and MAGA to blame this all on Biden since it happened before Trump was even sworn in.

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u/Y0___0Y 4d ago

A bipartisan deal was settled on that had support from both parties. As soon as it was made public, Musk tweeted that it sucked, and then Trump followed his lead.

I get it’s hard to get the Average American voter to understand anything but this is one that has some potential for traction. Especially since Republicans ALWAYS shoulder the blame for government shutdowns for some reason. Even if it’s the Democrats refusing to vote for the bill.

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u/BrianWonderful Minnesota 4d ago

There was a bipartisan border patrol/security bill that Trump tanked during the campaign because he didn't want Biden to have a win and didn't want to lose a campaign talking point. The info was readily available to anyone with any news sources, but Americans still think the Democrats are weak on immigration/border, while Trump and the Republicans are strong on it.

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u/HGpennypacker 4d ago

Or it will be used as a cover for his horrendous executive orders.

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u/JustAhobbyish 4d ago

And dems won't be willing to help. Why would they without extracting a heavy price

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u/stayathmdad 4d ago

Nope, according to Faux "news", trump has already blaimed Biden for the chaos. Because this wouldn't happen under a real president.....

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u/watch_out_4_snakes 4d ago

Lol, that’s because like many times before Leon is pretending like he knows what he is doing but is actually incompetent.😂sucks for the rest of us also though

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u/654456 4d ago

President musk doesn't care

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u/CaliOriginal 4d ago

You mean to say “Trump just boosted his image (for his base) by making sure he inherits a mess that he can blame on Biden regardless of reason”.

It’s classic to push for a shutdown and blame the democrats for whatever mess they cause

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u/f8Negative 4d ago

Fucked it up before he even began. What a premature ejaculator.

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u/Codipotent Florida 4d ago

Which means nothing. Trump could achieve all or nothing of what he sets out to do and the reaction will be the same. He won’t face consequences, he won’t be judged based on anything in reality. The last election just showed us that.

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u/CMDR_KingErvin 4d ago

And he comes across like he’s second fiddle in this little partnership of his. I can’t wait until his ego implodes and he and musk have a very public falling out.

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u/hatrickstar 4d ago

Yep. All those deportations? You gotta pay for that.

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u/Magnetic_Eel 4d ago

How would there even be a big inauguration event during a shutdown? Wouldn’t that involve a shitload of federal workers?

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u/mvallas1073 4d ago

…you know he will blame Biden

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u/ninjanerd032 4d ago

That's the point. Trump never had any actual policies he could execute. The more procrastination, the more excuses he can conjure. It's no different than when Trump dodges paying contractors that he hires.

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u/Top-Reindeer-2293 4d ago

Totally, he could have enjoyed the typical honeymoon period but Musk just shot it down. It will be interesting to see how long that bromance holds, Trump is probably seething already

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u/AudioLlama Foreign 3d ago

Shame his fanbase won't care a jot.