One of the few remaining certainties regarding the American electorate is that they, or – we, don’t like government shutdowns. It is one of those “You had one job!” things and it’s not particularly partisan. Both parties try to extract maximum benefit from what amounts to a homework deadline in a game of brinksmanship with all-too-real consequences. It is particularly dangerous, however, when the entire endeavor rests in the control of one party. In the normal course of business, the public will often apportion blame to everyone – both parties, though the optics of the House GOP eating their own is often used as a placeholder, the rebuttable presumption as to the root of the problem. But in this case, the Donald Trump White House works alongside or against Mike Johnson’s “House” – there is little room to run. The GOP writ large doesn’t want a government shutdown, which is not to say that a possible interruption bothers the White House. Some, it appears, want said shutdown.
As brought to us by NOTUS, it appears that there may be some friction as to how to go forward with the debt ceiling hanging over all our heads next week:
Lawmakers are scrambling to avoid a government shutdown, as members of both parties say they don’t want funding to lapse next week. But one person might not mind if Congress misses the deadline: Elon Musk. “Sounds great,” he wrote last week on X of a potential shutdown.
Sounds great https://t.co/sTEeN9Mpiv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025
No. I do not understand how the Democrats could shut anything down. Perhaps Musk needs to recount or re-read the news. Republicans drive this train. But it’s little wonder that he isn’t particularly unsettled. There are few events in this world that can interrupt a life buttressed by a few hundred billion dollars. When you are larger than most governments it is fairly easy to find parts. And so this matters:
Musk has already demonstrated his ability to derail Republican leaders’ plans and destroy spending bills, as he did in December when he led a revolt against a carefully crafted bipartisan funding plan. If Republicans can’t win over Musk — who still has tremendous power in Donald Trump’s White House — on their tentative plan to extend current funding levels for several more months, they could find themselves facing another social media mob.
Musk may believe that he can convince a sufficient number of Americans to despise the government such that a shutdown “sounds great!” and yet that would go against all available evidence, the public doesn’t like shutdowns. Moreover, it is difficult to envision how – after doing his damndest to sell the government for scrap, he then turns around to advocate turning the lights out on whatever remains. He is in a perilous enough position… He and “they,” the GOP, what with townhalls and such.
Easy as it has been for the Trump administration to ignore Congress to this point, one presumes there are limits. Again, the video of Mike Johnson scrambling to keep every single last Republican vote as far out as the ethers of the Freedom Caucus will be compelling enough as is (Presuming that they actually could get the votes in a Musk-free environment, doubtful enough as is). Add pressure from the man who has seemingly become Trump’s top adviser in Musk, and – well, we haven’t been down this road.
We have been close enough! Everyone knows the stakes in these things including even the government’s own credit rating, which is put at risk every. single. time. We have plenty of reason to believe that the VA, CDC, the weather bureau, whatever, is short-staffed as it is. Now throw in a government shutdown and you have the recipe for yet another self-inflicted wound. One of these days it will be mortal.
To be sure, as far as we know, Musk isn’t the last word on anything. Unlike the others, he only answers to one vote (Though, shareholders in Tesla are awfully concerned). To the extent that a government shutdown may impact Space X business, well… He will likely make up for it with an offer to contract out as a private government – “U.S.X.”
Shit… don’t give them any ideas… Walk away. Just pass the CR, Speaker Johnson.
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Good points about this oligarchy.
But we all should also see & read what the other side, i.e., the lunatics at FOX are saying. It’s disturbing, although not unexpected. Just like in Orwell’s 1984, black is white, up is down. Truly frightening because this is what the goobers are being fed:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion
The generation(s) that grew up where their parents did NOT live through The Great Depression and WWII have NO INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY of the difficulties their parents faced and overcame, with the HELP of their government.
The GOP wrote and are implementing Project 2025. Jess Piper on Substack wrote today about how they tried it all in the past few decades in her home state of Missouri, which is now at the bottom of the heap in almost everything: https://jesspiper.substack.com/p/i-know-exactly-what-they-are-doing