Elon Musk Flexes His Political Strength as Government Shutdown Looms

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-19 23:00:41 | Updated at 2024-12-20 05:40:48 6 hours ago

Elon Musk Flexes His Political Strength as Government Shutdown Looms
The New York Times ^ | Dec. 19, 2024Updated 12:14 p.m. ET | Michael D. Shear and Ryan Mac

Posted on 12/19/2024 2:52:08 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

The world’s richest man led the charge to kill a bipartisan spending deal, in part by promoting false and misleading claims about it.

When President-elect Donald J. Trump picked “the Great Elon Musk,” the world’s richest man, to slash government spending and waste, he mused that the effort might be “the Manhattan Project of our time.”

On Wednesday, that prediction looked spot on. Wielding the social media platform he purchased for $44 billion in 2022, Mr. Musk detonated a rhetorical nuclear bomb in the middle of government shutdown negotiations on Capitol Hill.

In more than 150 separate posts on X, Mr. Musk demanded that Republicans back away from a bipartisan spending deal that was meant to avoid a government shutdown over Christmas. He vowed political retribution against anyone voting for the sprawling bill backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Mr. Musk reposted Republican lawmakers’ complaints about the spending measure, celebrating each as a win. He also shared misinformation about the bill, including false claims that it contained new aid for Ukraine or $3 billion in funds for a new stadium in Washington.

By the end of the day, Mr. Trump issued a statement of his own, calling the bill “a betrayal of our country.”

It was a remarkable day for Mr. Musk, who has never been elected to public office but now appears to be the largest megaphone for the man about to retake the Oval Office. Larger, in fact, than Mr. Trump himself, whose own vaunted social media presence is dwarfed by that of Mr. Musk.

The president-elect counts 96.2 million followers on X, while Mr. Musk has 207.9 million. (Mr. Musk is also far richer than Mr. Trump. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is worth $442 billion, while the president-elect is worth...)

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

TOPICS: Humor
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No mention of The Slimes' years of anonymously sourced false and misleading claims about "Russia Collusion."

To: E. Pluribus Unum

It was a remarkable day for Mr. Musk, who has never been elected to public office

Huh NYT, neither was the person that pulls your strings, George Soros.

2 posted on 12/19/2024 2:56:13 PM PST by DallasBiff (Apology not accepted.la is not the sharpest knife in the drawer)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

The NYT actually accuses someone of “false claims”?
No one believes you clown journalists any more.
Go away, and let a man whose IQ, when divided by the sum IQ of your entire staff, still produces an almost uncountably large number.

Go away, NYT, and get a real education...something NOT even remotely associated with journalism, DET, undertwater lesbian dancing, or unicorn fart studies.

3 posted on 12/19/2024 2:57:45 PM PST by Da Coyote (H)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

I don’t think he’s eligible, but I wouldn’t mind Musk as president #48.

4 posted on 12/19/2024 2:59:14 PM PST by Lazamataz (The BEST birthday present I ever got WAS DONALD TRUMP WINNING IN 2024!!!)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

The Slimes had no problem with unelected, second-rate actor George Clooney publishing an opinion piece that completely scrambled the leftard party.

5 posted on 12/19/2024 2:59:44 PM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)

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