Existing bipartisan funding deal killed by “President Musk”: Is Musk running the show?

by | Dec 21, 2024 | Politics, The Moderate Voice

Is the man now increasingly called “President Elon Musk” now running the Trump administration show with Donald Trump either a)an echo b)unable to meeting alone national, foreign government and business bigwigs” in meetings without him?

It certainly seems that way. Let’s give a big hand (with the middle finger up) to Trump Chaos returning to Washington.

And, with a little help from “President Musk”, short-circuiting a Trump presidential honeymoon before Trump has even been sworn in. As The Bulwark’s William Kristol writes, the world’s richest man wants to burn it all down.

On Twitter, Tik Tok, and Democrats in many interviews Musk is being referred to as “President Musk.” In the first Trump administration Trump was President. In the incoming Trump administration Trump will apparently be co-President.

A bipartisan deal, hammered out between House Speaker Mike Johnson with Democrats, was seemingly all set. Then Musk came out against it in posts and phone calls. Then after that Trump came out against it. Meanwhile, mega-MAGA Steve Bannon suggested Johnson was a Democrat. ‘

And the House Republicans folded, breaking their bipartisan deal with Democrats. Rolling Stone:

Elon Musk, self-described “First Buddy” of President-elect Donald Trump, went all out to thwart a last-minute funding deal to avert a government shutdown. The move was a direct challenge to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who rolled out the sweeping plan on Tuesday night.

Now, it appears Musk has successfully killed the stopgap measure in its cradle — before it was even brought to a vote.

In a manic posting spree on Wednesday, the world’s richest man bombarded his platform X, formerly Twitter, with attacks on a proposed funding bill, which would’ve kept the government funded through March 14 and had bipartisan support. He also amplified misinformation about what’s in the 1,500-page bill — as did his non-governmental commission, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is recommending cuts to government spending and regulations to the incoming Trump administration.

Trump himself opposes the resolution, according to a joint statement shared Wednesday by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Various hard-right GOP representatives also vowed to vote against it. Should Johnson fail to get a spending plan passed by Dec. 20, the federal government will enter a partial shutdown ahead of the holidays. But that apparently sounded ideal to Musk and his social media clique.

“YES,” Musk commented on an X post from a user who wrote, “Just close down the govt until January 20th. Defund everything. We will be fine for 33 days.” In his own post, Musk wrote, “No bills should be passed [by] Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero.” (Upon Trump’s inauguration, Republican majorities will control both chambers of Congress.) Elsewhere, Musk reshared a meme of himself hacking at the bill with a sword, captioned “KILL THE BILL.” In yet another post, he wrote: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

Musk personally thanked a number of GOP representatives who announced via X that they were voting “no” on the bill, including Reps. Barry Moore, Anna Paulina Luna, Wesley Hunt, Eli Crane, Randy Weber, Michael Cloud, Jeff Van Drew, Warren Davidson, Keith Self, Kevin Kiley and Andy Ogles, many of whom blasted it as an “omnibus” package of excessive spending and Democratic giveaways.

The funding bill, H.R. 10445, contained provisions for allocating roughly $100 billion to relief efforts to aid Americans recovering from natural disasters in the past two years, some $30 billion in aid to farmers, and federal funding to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. It would also have criminalized revenge porn, given the District of Columbia greater control over the area surrounding the defunct Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium as they seek to bring the Washington Commanders back into the city, addressed transparency issues in hotel prices and live event ticketing, and implemented health care reforms, including some intended to lower prescription drug costs.

More controversially, the bill included a pay raise for members Congress, justified as a cost of living adjustment, a provision which drew criticism from both sides of the aisle.

Where does this leave Johnson? Trump says he supports Johnson — if he acts “decisively and tough” on the spending bill. That is, if Johnson does what President Elon Musk and Trump want.Fox News:

President-elect Donald Trump told Fox News Digital that House Speaker Mike Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package.

Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with the president-elect Thursday morning, just hours after the bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown was killed.

“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

Vice President-elect JD Vance met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Wednesday night. The two spoke about the potential continuing resolution for about an hour. Vance said the two had a “productive conversation,” and said he believes they will “be able to solve some problems here” and will continue “working on it.”

So the clock is ticking on a government shut down. If it turns bad, it’s unlikely Democrats will work to rescue GOPers from any public backlash and acquiesce to Republican demands. Now Trump is calling for the total elimination of the debt ceiling and says if it doesn’t pass it’ll be a “Biden shutdown.” The problem: history has shown that when Republicans shut down the government and blame Democrats it does not work. It boomerangs on those that actually shut the government down.

Could Democrats vote the way Trump wants and eliminate the debt ceilin g? Democrats would also like to see the debt ceiling scrapped. Still, it looks unlikely.

Paul Krugman:

“We’ll have to see how much damage this does, but it’s already clear that assuming the worst happens — and it’s hard to see how it won’t — this will be the dumbest shutdown ever. I’d say that the incoming Musk administration (so far Musk, not Trump, appears to be calling the shots) is trying to hold itself up for ransom, but it doesn’t even rise to that level. This isn’t like 1995, when Newt Gingrich shut down the government in an attempt to extract cuts in Medicare and Medicaid — a move that seemed (and was) a foolish act of petulance, but at least had a ghost of motivation.”

“No, Musk is demanding — apparently successfully — that Republicans in Congress renege on a deal they had already agreed to, a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government going for the next few months. Why? Because, Musk says, of the outrageous provisions in that CR.”

“Except none of the items Musk is complaining about are actually in the bill.”


Caricature: DonkeyHotey/Flickr

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Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes eases ankle injury concerns, sets personal rushing mark on touchdown run

by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News

The status of Patrick Mahomes’ ankle was widely discussed leading up to Saturday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.

While there was some doubt during the week whether the star quarterback would play against the Texans, he was able to fully get through the Chiefs’ practice Thursday. 

Mahomes was cleared to play and finished Saturday’s 27-19 victory over Houston with 260 passing yards.

But the three-time Super Bowl winner turned some heads when he managed to stay on his feet after nearly being tripped and sprinted into the end zone for the first score of the game.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Mahomes was sidelined in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ Week 15 game against the Cleveland Browns . Backup quarterback Carson Wentz stepped in for Mahomes and finished the 21-7 win over the Browns with 20 passing yards.

DEION SANDERS SAYS HE’LL ‘MAKE SURE’ TRAVIS HUNTER PLAYS OFFENSE AND DEFENSE IN NFL

Mahomes’ 15-yard scramble Saturday marked the longest rushing touchdown of his career. Moments after Mahomes crossed the goal line, broadcaster Noah Eagle wondered, “What bum ankle?”

This was not the first time Mahomes dealt with an ankle injury. 

During the 2022 NFL postseason, Mahomes sustained what appeared to be a high ankle sprain in a divisional round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars . 

The win over the Texans improved the Chiefs’ record to 14-1. Kansas City had already clinched a playoff berth after winning the AFC West a ninth straight year.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X , and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter .

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Ravens take down Steelers to keep AFC North race open

by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News

The Baltimore Ravens punched their ticket to the postseason and kept their hopes for a division title alive Saturday. 

With a 34-17 win over the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers , Baltimore could reclaim first place in the final two weeks. 

Pittsburgh (10-5) would have clinched the division with a victory, but now the teams are deadlocked after the Ravens (10-5) won for just the second time in the last 10 games of the series. Baltimore clinched a playoff berth with the win. 

The Steelers had already clinched a playoff spot.

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Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes, the second of which tied the game at 17 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Jackson answered with a 7-yard scoring strike to Mark Andrews.

After Pittsburgh turned the ball over on downs, a 44-yard run by Derrick Henry put the Ravens in the red zone.

LIONS’ JOSH PASCHAL DISCUSSES WHY HE FEELS LIKE IT’S DESTINY TO BE PLAYING IN DETROIT

That drive ended when Jackson was intercepted for just the fourth time this season, but Marlon Humphrey picked off Wilson and ran 37 yards to the end zone to give Baltimore a cushion in a series that’s been tight of late. The previous nine games between the Steelers and Ravens were decided by seven points or fewer.

Jackson improved to 2-4 against Pittsburgh as a starter. Saturday’s game marked his first time facing the Steelers at home since 2020.

Henry rushed for 162 yards.

Pittsburgh entered the game with a plus-18 turnover margin, but the Ravens had the edge in that department Saturday. Baltimore recovered three of its own fumbles and had two big takeaways.

Now the Steelers will have to deal with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day before finishing the season at home against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens will travel to Houston to play the Texans on Christmas Day before finishing the season at home against the Cleveland Browns. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X , and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter .

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Stop apologizing for saving black lives

by | Dec 21, 2024 | Ann Coulter

Idiot conservatives were doing the idiot thing this week, screaming “racism!” in response to an old tape of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg defending stop-and-frisk, one of the policies that drove New York City murder rates down to Mayberry levels. They weren’t being ironic.

In the 2015 tape, Bloomberg makes the blindingly obvious point that if “95% of murders and murder victims are young male minorities” – as is true in New York City – then police should be questioning about 95% young male minorities.

To stop crime, he said, you “put a lot of cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods.”

Bloomberg further explained that frisking young black and brown men for minor crimes is how you keep guns off the streets generally: “And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them. And then they start, they say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to get caught.’ So they don’t bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home.”

Does anyone with a functioning frontal lobe disagree with this? By pursuing the wacky idea of having cops frisk kids in high-crime areas for minor offenses like turnstile jumping, Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut the murder rate from more than 2,000 per year to about 600. No one thought it could possibly go any lower – and then Bloomberg got murders down to an unfathomable 300 or so per year.

Giuliani and Bloomberg did more for young minorities than all living Democrats combined. In New York City alone, at least 20,000 more black men are alive today than would be under the genius crime-fighting ideas of prior administrations (and The New York Times).

Unless liberal elites are pursuing a secret plan to reduce the black population by allowing young black men to kill one another (that would make a great movie by Jordan Peele!), stop-and-frisk is nothing to apologize for.

Well, guess what? Bloomberg apologized for it. He began his presidential campaign with a repudiation of his signature accomplishment in order to please a handful of black activists and a lot of white liberals. For that, he deserves the contempt of all men of goodwill.

Why not attack him for the gutless apology? Is Bloomberg sorry for saving so many black lives? Does becoming a Democrat make basic math incomprehensible? Is he a pandering coward? Can we trust anything he says?

But small-bore conservatives did what they always do: Give up winning a war in order to land a quick blow in a skirmish. They called Bloomberg’s earlier, logically insuperable point “RACIST!”

Great, so now conservatives are adopting the absolute worst aspect of liberalism – calling everything “racist.”

As I wrote in 2016, when the media were going through their quadrennial demand that the Republican candidate for president “disavow” David Duke, these “racism” orgies never have anything to do with black people. It’s part of the Fabulous White People competition, where black people are the chips.

If anything, the urge to call other people “racist” has only gotten stronger since then, so I’ll quote myself:

“Sad people with meaningless lives [are] suddenly empowered to condemn other people. I beat you in blacks yesterday; I’m going to beat you in women today. This is what makes them feel superior to other people, especially other white people. It’s not about racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.; it’s just a self-actualization movement for people with emotional issues.”

Why are conservatives leaping into this game? For the teeny-tiny pleasure of taking a cheap shot at Bloomberg, they are endorsing the idea that anyone who 1) grasps basic math and 2) is opposed to gun crime is a “racist.”

Our entire public dialogue will soon be nothing but white people calling one another “racist,” as if we’re trapped in an eternal Democratic presidential debate.

At the New Hampshire debate last Friday night, Tom Steyer – hedge fund manager and Hero to Black People Everywhere – kept hammering Joe Biden about some “racist” remark made by South Carolina State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Biden supporter.

“One of the leaders of Joe Biden’s South Carolina campaign,” Steyer said, “made racist remarks about someone associated with our campaign.” Steyer then repeatedly called on Biden to “disavow” the remark and the man who made it. “Be on the right side,” he implored.

The story: Harpootlian had tweeted that another South Carolina Democrat, state legislator Jerry Govan, flipped his support from Biden to Steyer after being paid “almost $50,000” by the Steyer campaign. Calling Steyer “Mr. Moneybags,” Harpootlian concluded, “This is what happens when billionaires get involved. … They don’t have to persuade anybody, they just buy them.”

I’ve assembled a panel of black judges to rule on Harpootlian’s racism, and their response is: Keep reading. Get to the racism part.

Nope, that’s it! Govan is black, so pointing out that Steyer paid him $50,000 and got his endorsement is “racist.”

I would have gone with “anti-Semitic” myself, but what do I know? I guess I’ll check with the conservative “racism” fighters!

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US military conducts successful airstrikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen

by | Dec 21, 2024 | Fox News

The U.S. military confirmed it conducted airstrikes in Yemen, saying it targeted a missile storage site and a command-and-control center operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the successful strikes in a release Saturday, saying they were meant to “disrupt and degrade” Houthi operations.

“CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden ,” CENTCOM said in a news release.

DISAPPROVAL MOUNTS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD AS US AVOIDS DIRECT ACTION AGAINST HOUTHI REBELS

Footage from CENTCOM showed F/A-18’s taking off. The agency said it also used assets from the Navy and the Air Force.

US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN  

“The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect U.S. and coalition personnel, regional partners and international shipping,” it said.

The attacks against shipping are ongoing, and Houthi militants have vowed to continue until Israel ends its campaign in Gaza.

The terrorist group has targeted more than 100 merchant vessels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.

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Using Primary Threats to Instill Party Discipline?

by | Dec 21, 2024 | Axios, Outside The Beltway, Politico

Source: the White House

I have long argued that the decentralized nature of the nominations means that American parties are not especially disciplined. By this, I mean that the capacity of party leadership to force conformity on votes in the legislature is limited by the fact that party leadership does not fully control membership in the party.

In more disciplined party systems the ability of leadership to stop members of the party from using its label at the next election is a way to force party members to either toe the line or lose their seat. In the US, candidates enter the party by their own choice by filing paperwork at the local level to compete in nominating elections, i.e., primaries. Win the primary and the Republican or Democratic label is yours and, often because of the noncompetitive nature of US general elections, it could mean capturing the seat as well.

As a result, returning to the House or Senate typically requires winning the primary. And usually, incumbents do quite well in such contests, if anything because they almost always have a substantial money and name-recognition advantage. There is always some fear of being “primaried” by being challenged by a well-known and/or well-funded opponent. But this is normally a very ad hoc threat.

This appears to be changing, at least for the GOP. There appears to be a growing centralization of this threat funded by Elon Musk.

I was already planning to write about this phenomenon as it pertains to the Hegseth nomination, but then last night I saw that Trump wanted to stop the spending bill in Congress and threatened to primary any Republican who voted for it (see, via the AP, Trump threatens Republicans who support funding measure will ‘be Primaried’ ). This morning I woke up to hear that that the bill is now on hold.

Again, the notion that individual members of Congress might face a serious primary challenge is not new. And Trump threatening to endorse a challenger in such a scenario is also not new. What appears to be new is the notion of a coordinated/centralized threat of this nature to force party discipline on specific votes in the legislature via the deployment of Musk-funded PACs and siccing the right-win mob on individual members of Congress. The threat of Musk funding primary challenges has been in the air since the election, but this week there was already evidence it was becoming reality.

Specifically, I would note the case of Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). Ernst appeared to be a likely holdout on the Hegseth SecDef vote. She had the moral high ground as the first female combat veteran elected to Congress and also was known as a champion who fought against sexual harassment/abuse in the military. She appeared poised to vote against Hegseth and then the Trump machine unleashed a media and advertising campaign against her and there was a clear threat of a primary challenge. Ernst is up for re-election in 2026.

Ernst appears now to have caved.

I recommend The Daily from Monday , which details the entire Ernst story. See, also, this write-up in the NYT: Ernst, Under MAGA Pressure, Signals Backing for Hegseth’s Pentagon Bid .

Mr. Trump’s hard-line backers paid for ads  in Ms. Ernst’s home state, questioned her Republican bona fides  on social media and even threatened to launch  primary challenges against her in 2026 to push her toward supporting Mr. Hegseth as the nominee.

Some prominent Trump activists, including Charlie Kirk and Stephen K. Bannon, the right-wing strategist, pushed to recruit Kari Lake, the former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona who grew up in Iowa, as a potential challenger to Ms. Ernst.

Setting aside the moral failing one could assert that is on display here by Ernst, this is Trump demonstrating a substantial amount of power, and it is a combination of his standing in the party, but also the power of Musk’s money. The inclusion of a billionaire willing to spend millions of dollars to get a single vote in the Senate is a game-changer in a way that solidifies Trump’s grip on the GOP.

It may be that the media blitz, and commensurate constituent pressure it likely generated, is more the issue than the primary threat at this stage, but the willingness to engage in such a media blitz over this one vote is a gauntlet being thrown. If Trump’s allies have the ability to coordinate a media campaign this quickly and easily over Hegseth (and demonstrate their willingness to spend) it is certainly enough to make the primary threat feel more concrete.

I have argued that the nomination of problematic and unqualified individuals to very important jobs was going to be a test of Trump’s power and a measurement of where the Senate GOP was. Ernst’s willingness to vote for Hegseth is a triumph for Trump and a failure of leadership and independence for the Senate GOP.

It may well be that the ability to coordinate these kinds of attacks will instill party discipline. A disturbing element of this is the simple fact that this discipline would not be because of a party unified around ideology or a governing philosophy linked to long-standing voter feedback. No, this would be a discipline driven by fear of Elon Musk’s bank account and his willingness to fund Trump’s whims.

This is not a healthy development for American politics and is yet another sign of the rising power of oligarchs in American politics.

Along those lines, see the following via Politico which demonstrated Musk’s influence and irresponsibility: Elon Musk fueled backlash to spending plan with false and misleading claims . See, also, from The Hill: House Democrat: ‘Unelected oligarch’ Musk ‘governing by tweet’ . And this timeline from Axios: Behind the Curtain: Musk’s America .

One of the threats of Trump 2.0 was that he would empower fringe actors who could do a lot of damage. Well, Musk is both being empowered by Trump and is also empowering him.

On balance, I think that more disciplined parties are better for democratic competition because it creates a stronger, clearer signal as to what the party stands for. But what we are seeing here is the personalization of one of the parties via piles of cash.

Maybe all this is bluster, but if members of Congress capitulate, it is effective bluster. It will be interesting and telling to see if the primary threat continues to be dangled over the heads of congressional Republicans and how much it controls their behavior.

The longer-term question will be how much will billionaire influencers like Musk continue this kind of political role. I fear that we are seeing a significant shift toward direct oligarchic power in our elections which is not healthy in the least.