The text of the continuing resolution (CR) released on Tuesday night has turned out to be a complete and total failure. Elon Musk, in addition to conservative members of Congress, has been particularly critical. Now, President-elect Donald Trump has also come out against the CR, and Democrats are lashing out, going with a common narrative as they do so.
Musk and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) have been going at it over Musk's opposition to the spending bill, with Musk calling out the 40 percent pay increase for members, in particular.
Frost referred to Musk as a "Co-President" in no less than two posts on Wednesday night.
An unelected billionaire was crowned co-President by the Republican Party. They’ve given him the influence to make a damn post that throws a spending bill into limbo cause House Republicans are scared of him.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) December 18, 2024
No greater example of oligarchy. Where the ultra-wealthy run the show. pic.twitter.com/MN7myJ2ONU
And just like that, Republican Unelected Co-President Elon Musk has killed the bill to keep the government from shutting down on Friday. All he had to do was make a few social media posts.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) December 18, 2024
Trump said he’d empower working people, all he’s done is empower the ultra wealthy. pic.twitter.com/dx96y6VLVw
In those posts, Musk was expressing his relief that most people lashed out against the spending bill and called for voting out of office members who voted for the CR. That's how our system is supposed to work. Musk has continued to double down on such a view.
Musk replied to a post from FL Voice News' Eric Daugherty that Frost is "just mad he didn’t get his 40% raise to a quarter million dollars a year," and mocked his idea of "Empathy for working people."
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He’s just mad he didn’t get his 40% raise to a quarter million dollars a year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
“Empathy for working people” my ass.
Elon is just mad that this site is worth 80% less than when he bought it.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) December 19, 2024
“Great businessman” my ass. https://t.co/q4uXB8Dr9Z
Frost also reposted Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), who referred to Musk as '"President-Elect'" and mentioned Trump as the former president.
Pocan was mentioned in a post from Axios after he posted an AI-generated image "from the future" of Trump swearing in Musk at the inauguration to take place next month. The far-left congressman issued warnings for Trump in an interview with the outlet.
"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," he said. "Donald Trump at some point is not going to accept that. So I'm just going to invest in popcorn for the next year."
"President-Elect" @ElonMusk and Former President @RealDonaldTrump want to shut down the government.
— Rep. Mark Pocan (@RepMarkPocan) December 18, 2024
Nothing like a couple billionaires wreaking havoc on working families right before the holidays.
We just returned from the future and got this photo from the inauguration. pic.twitter.com/f7aSHzfnFp
— Rep. Mark Pocan (@RepMarkPocan) December 18, 2024
Other members named in that piece include Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), who claimed that Musk is "president and Trump is now vice president." There's also Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), who mentioned she would be speaking to those in Vermont who voted for Trump. "I'm going to be talking to my folks back home in Vermont who voted for Trump: You thought you voted for Trump, but in fact, Trump just caved to Musk," she said. "It's terrifying."
She also put out a video over X, ranting that Musk "has no place inserting himself like he’s the president when Congress is trying to get disaster relief to those who need it."
Elon Musk is not an elected official. He's been elected to nothing and has no place inserting himself like he’s the president when Congress is trying to get disaster relief to those who need it. pic.twitter.com/vdU43N3Gp5
— Rep. Becca Balint (@RepBeccaB) December 18, 2024
Perhaps the most shocking point comes from Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH), who decided to focus on Musk's... national origin?
"He's not American. He doesn't know about our democracy. He doesn't know about our processes," Kuster is described as having "fumed." Axios even needed to add their own little fact-check, reminding that "Musk was born in South Africa but became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002." Further, we're not even a democracy, but rather a constitutional republic.
Then there's Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), and his response on Wednesday to the news that Trump was "totally against" the CR. Goldman claimed that "the Puppet President-Elect weighs in to faithfully execute his benefactor Elon Musk's orders."
He also repeated those same talking points in a hysterical manner over MSNBC on Wednesday night.
And just a few hours later, the Puppet President-Elect weighs in to faithfully execute his benefactor Elon Musk's orders. https://t.co/3QTrSQ7uN9
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) December 18, 2024
Dems agreed to a bipartisan funding deal helping first responders, families & seniors.
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) December 19, 2024
When Pres Elon told his puppet to kill it, Trump did as he was told and Rs fell in line.
He's either impotent, incompetent or incapable of being President.
Working Americans will now suffer. pic.twitter.com/5nQlJXqapf
Although such a complaint doesn't have to do with the spending bill, there's another particularly noteworthy mention from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who just can't help herself when it comes to attacking Musk. Earlier this week, she threw a fit over conflicts of interest she's concerned Musk has, and on Wednesday put out a post about Musk serving as an "unofficial co-president" of Trump, again referencing a letter she sent to Trump on Monday.
The American people deserve to know whether an “unofficial co-president” is advancing policies that are good for the country or just good for his own bottom line.https://t.co/Tu4wsU7VvN
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 18, 2024
There's so far been over 5,000 replies in less than 24 hours, and plenty of quoted reposts as well, as many remind Warren that there have been concerns about President Joe Biden for some time now.
The New York Times came out with a report on Tuesday about Biden's declining mental faculties, which was featured in Wednesday morning's edition of POLITICO Playbook, as we covered earlier. On Thursday morning, The Wall Street Journal was out with another piece, "How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge," confirming what we knew all along on how the president is not well.
There is literally a corpse in office right now you stupid fool.
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) December 18, 2024
I, too, would like to know who is currently running the White House.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 18, 2024
I didn’t realize Senator Warren was so concerned about Biden’s cognitive decline. https://t.co/mQr4yyv2sA
Elon Musk shares his opinion about a spending bill he’s a Co-President but you support a $1.2 trillion bill that funds biolabs, increases censorship, gives Congress a raise all while using American victims of natural disasters as leverage but that doesn’t make you a traitor?
— Chase Geiser (@realchasegeiser) December 19, 2024
Who is our president right now? Who is the 'unofficial co-president' spewing US money into UKR, Africa, and elsewhere? Why aren't you worried about THAT?
— Robert Myers 🇺🇸🇮🇱 🏴☠️🟦 (@Rondo2) December 19, 2024
If you cared about the here and now 1/1024th as much as you bloviate about Trump you'd actually be relevant.
The hubris of the Democrats wondering about who's actually in charge of the GOP after the last four years of Biden sleepwalking through the White House is off the scale. https://t.co/ns6bf5wT66
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) December 19, 2024
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