By Mary Jones | Friday, December 20, 2024 | 5 min read
The chaotic collapse of the Elon Musk-Donald Trump partnership in attempting to lead the Republican House of Representatives has been on full display. Within just 24 hours, Musk and Trump took it upon themselves to negotiate what Trump prematurely and misleadingly called a “deal.” The problem? They were essentially negotiating with themselves.
In Congress, a “deal” typically means a bipartisan agreement—something with enough votes to pass both the House and Senate and earn the President’s signature. But neither Musk nor Trump included Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or President Biden in their so-called negotiations, making a real agreement impossible. Despite this, Trump proclaimed earlier today that Speaker Mike Johnson and the House Republicans had reached “a very good deal for the American people.”
Speaker Mike Johnson seemed to recognize the doomed nature of the Musk-Trump plan, but he allowed it to come up for a vote anyway. This move came after relentless pressure from Musk—the wealthiest man in the world—and Trump, who both threatened Republican lawmakers with political retribution if they voted against the bill.
Defying those threats, 38 House Republicans voted against the Musk-Trump proposal, leading to its spectacular failure. Musk and Trump responded with angry declarations that those lawmakers should face primary challenges in their next elections. Yet the defeat exposed the limits of their influence over the legislative process and the growing cracks within the Republican Party.
This wasn’t Musk’s first political misstep. His previous lobbying attempts, including backing a candidate for Senate Majority Leader and pushing for Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, were soundly rejected. Yesterday, Musk tried to wield his influence over House Republicans to push the Musk-Trump bill, but the bill’s collapse highlights his lack of understanding of the legislative process—and the growing resistance within the Republican Party to Trump’s dominance.
One of the bill’s most controversial provisions was a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling. This would have paved the way for Trump to implement massive tax cuts for billionaires without worrying about ballooning the national debt. Democrats sharply criticized this, pointing out the hypocrisy of Republicans claiming to care about fiscal responsibility while advancing policies that serve the wealthiest Americans at the expense of working families. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called out Republicans for abandoning a previously negotiated bipartisan agreement designed to serve the public good.
The failure of the Musk-Trump bill also dealt a personal blow to Trump, who has rarely been more openly threatening toward his own party. This time, his intimidation tactics fell flat. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democrats emphasized the value of compromise and bipartisanship, a stark contrast to the infighting and disarray on the Republican side.
For Speaker Johnson, the defeat underscores the difficulties of leading a deeply fractured Republican caucus. While he may have hoped the vote would expose the flaws in the Musk-Trump plan and encourage compromise, it instead revealed the extent of dysfunction within his party and the consequences of allowing figures like Musk and Trump to overreach. Now, the only realistic way forward appears to be returning to the bipartisan agreement negotiated earlier to prevent a government shutdown.
At its core, the Musk-Trump proposal aimed to slash critical programs for ordinary Americans while simultaneously raiding the national treasury for over $4 trillion in tax breaks benefiting the wealthiest individuals and corporations. This approach is the opposite of what Trump promised when he claimed he would fight for working Americans. Instead, it’s a clear betrayal of their trust, laid bare for all to see.
As Senator Jeff Merkley put it: “This isn’t governance; it’s a sellout.”
The political chaos isn’t just a blip—it’s a sign of deeper problems in the GOP. As Representative Richie Neal, a former Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, observed, “You have never won a government shutdown, and you won’t win this one either. Your currency in this institution is your word. And if a tweet can undo everything Congress agrees on, how can you expect to govern for the next two years?”
This dysfunction doesn’t bode well for Speaker Johnson, who faces an almost evenly split House (217 Republicans to 215 Democrats) come January. Congressional historian Norm Ornstein points out that Johnson, much like Musk and Trump, is unlikely to control the chaos within his party. “They can’t legislate effectively when a significant number of Republicans don’t care about governing and think a government shutdown would be a good thing.”
EJ Dionne a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University summed up the deeper lesson: “This is what happens when you farm out the hard work of democratic government to someone like Elon Musk—a billionaire with no political experience but plenty of arrogance.”
Dionne also highlighted how many Republicans struggle to balance the needs of governing with their skill at opposing. While some Republicans genuinely want to pass bipartisan legislation, a large faction excels only at obstruction. That divide was on display in this latest debacle, where bipartisan provisions—like telehealth reimbursement for rural and underserved communities—were torpedoed to cater to Musk’s whims. “What did they kill it for? The will of a billionaire,” Dionne said.
Looking ahead, this failure signals a long road of gridlock, particularly if figures like Musk and Trump continue to inject themselves into governance. For now, President Biden has wisely stayed out of the fray, leaving Republicans to face the fallout from their self-inflicted chaos.
The Republican-controlled House has shown it cannot govern effectively under these conditions. As Ornstein aptly put it, “They’ve handed the reins to Trump and Musk—and what do they have to show for it? Nothing but chaos.”
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