Musk and Trump Shut Down Continuing Resolution

Beginning in the wee hours of the morning on December 18, Elon Musk began sending tweets that would slam the budgetary continuing resolution to a stop.

In spite of the fact that Speaker Mike Johnson was planning to go forward with a bipartisan continuing budget resolution to fund the government, that bill is now dead. We're facing a a government shutdown.

In the early morning hours of December 18, Elon Musk started posting on Twitter (I know the name has changed. But hey, I'm old and set in my ways.) The richest man in the world started tweeting that the CR shouldn't pass. Later that afternoon Donald Trump took up the refrain. Mike Johnson caved. So now we're faced with air traffic controllers, TSA officers and Customs and Border Patrol agents working without pay for as long as the shutdown lasts. Yes, they'll get paid eventually, but they have bills to pay just like everybody else.

Musk is a billionaire. So is Trump, supposedly. They don't have to worry about keeping the wolf away from the door. These government employees do. Some of these folks work in high stress jobs. They're responsible for keeping people safe. They don't need spoiled rich fat cats laying more stress on them.

Bernie Sanders has a way with words. This is how he put it:

"Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government.

"The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn't like it.

"Will Republicans kiss the ring?

"Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government."

Others have said the same thing. Adam Kinzinger was one. Pramila Jayapal called Musk Shadow President.

Indeed, billionaires shouldn't be allowed to run our government. This is just the tip of the iceberg, a foreshadowing of what is to come. Keep in mind that Elon Musk is a government contractor. A government contractor should not be sending tweets at four or five in the morning telling Congress how to do it's job. As far as I can tell, Musk started the ball rolling with a tweet at 3:17 AM on December 18. The joint statement from Trump and Vance was reported by the media that afternoon. It surely LOOKS like Musk is the one doing the leading and Trump is the one doing the following.

This is a big conflict of interest. Jamie Raskin said it was unclear whether Democrats were negotiating with Trump or Musk.

Late Thursday afternoon Republicans have said that they have cobbled together a CR. Trump is all for it, even though he hasn't had time to read it. (Of course 1500 pages is too much for him to read at all.) This partisan bill, put together solely by Republicans, reportedly contains language that would eliminate the debt ceiling. So much for fiscal responsibility.

Please call your Congressmen and Senators. A protracted government shutdown will hurt millions of people.

Thank you for reading this. I appreciate each and every one of you in these trying times. Please feel free to share.