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So they managed to avoid a shutdown at the last minute and everybody got to go home for Christmas. But their hiccup at the end exposed the glaring fact that the Republican legislative majority is going to be an even worse shitshow than we might have thought.
We knew they’d be incompetent and extreme. But I don’t think any of us understood that Elon Musk would be the new leader of the party and would take to his massive platform to threaten Republicans with his massive fortune. But it was entirely predictable that the Freedom Caucus weirdos would just say no. They always do.
Apparently, they were finally able to appease President Musk and his assistant Donald Trump with a promise to raise the debt ceiling while simultaneously making massive cuts to the safety net:
House Republicans have a new plan for their agenda next year — one that might even satisfy tech billionaire Elon Musk. They claim they’re going to cut $2.5 trillion in government spending, in return for raising the debt ceiling.
Specifically, this handshake deal — part of Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avert a government shutdown — is to cut mandatory spending, which includes major social safety net programs like Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and veterans benefits.
It would satisfy far-right lawmakers who have been pining for cuts for years. The only problem? Figuring out how to do that with a barely there majority.
I hope they aren’t counting on Democratic votes to do it. (Of course, you never know….) You have to love this, though:
Members are aware they’re on tricky political ground, with many Americans opposing cuts to most entitlement programs. Some lawmakers suggested they aren’t talking only about cuts — but really savings.
“There’s lots of places over 10 years that you can find opportunities,” Rep. G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania said. “There are places where you can reduce spending and, quite frankly, things that we can do to increase economic activity, which brings in additional revenue.”
They’re going to slash the safety net and give massive tax cuts to the wealthy but they somehow think that (as well as tariffs and deportations) will result in additional revenue? I’ll have what he’s smoking.
As I said, it’s going to be a shitshow. Trump is weak. He let Musk outflank him by successfully strong arming the GOP into rejecting the negotiated bipartisan CR and knee-capping Speaker Johnson. That made Johnson look very bad and spawned the “President Musk” meme that’s going to haunt old Donald. But that’s not all:
On Thursday, in coordination with Trump, the House GOP unveiled a new funding bill, one shorn of all Democratic priorities. Over social media, the president-elect instructed his party to “vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!” Then, 38 House Republicans voted against the legislation, which was more than enough to sink it amid nearly unified Democratic opposition.
House conservatives’ defiance of Trump is partly attributable to ideological differences. The president-elect’s objections to Wednesday’s bipartisan agreement were distinct from those of his donor Elon Musk or the House GOP’s hardliners. The latter disdained the spending bill’s page count and fiscal cost. Trump, by contrast, appeared more preoccupied with the legislation’s failure to increase — or eliminate — the debt limit. [,,,]
It is not surprising that some House Republicans would prize conservative purity above fealty to Trump. That nearly 40 of them would harbor such priorities is a revelation, however. During the 2024 campaign, Trump demonstrated a remarkable capacity to dictate ideological terms to his party, officially forswearing a national abortion ban without provoking any sustained attacks from his right. Combined with his apparent success in revising conservative orthodoxy on trade, entitlement spending, and US-Russia policy, Trump’s pivot on abortion raised the possibility that the modern right was a personality cult first and an ideological movement second.
It’s now clear that for a substantial portion of House Republicans, this is not the case. And that is going to raise serious challenges to Trump’s agenda next year.[…]
It is worth recalling that Trump is a 78-year-old lame duck. If you are an up-and-coming conservative House member with aspirations to run for higher office a decade from now, a reputation for conservative ideological purity might eventually prove more useful than a record of perfect fealty to an elderly man whose interest in the Republican Party is liable to evaporate the moment he forfeits the presidency.
The article doesn’t mention that Elon Musk is the new leader of that rump faction and he wields a mighty checkbook.
By making Musk the face of fiscal austerity, Trump anointed his successor as leader of the Republican Party. I doubt he realized he was doing that and he certainly didn’t realize that he would be taking over before Trump even took office. It was a YUGE mistake.
They’re making Google eyes at each other publicly for now.
Fergawdsakes. But you know Trump has got to be fuming…
This is going to be a crazy year, folks, wilder than I think we could have anticipated just a month ago. So I hope you’ll check in over here from time to time. Tom and I and other occasional contributors will be watching all this very closely and trying to make some sense of it as best we can. (It’s a dirty job but somebody’s gotta do it.) Anything you can spare to help in that task is much appreciated.