Politics Today Bulletin 30, 12/19/24

… After President-elect Musk tanked Mike Johnson’s deal yesterday, Trump weighed in and they tried again. One big thing got taken out that Musk wanted out - restrictions on American investments in China; and one big thing Trump wanted was put in - two years with the lid blown off the debt ceiling so he can give his billionaire friends big tax cuts while increasing defense spending to record levels.

… Oh, and they also cut $190 million for pediatric cancer research out of it.

… Democrats caucused and remained unified. CBS reporter Scott Macfarlane said he could hear them yelling, “Hell no!” behind closed doors. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: “The Musk/Johnson proposal is not serious. It’s laughable.”

… So, with Nancy Pelosi absent while recovering from hip replacement surgery, could Republicans unite behind Trump, Musk and Johnson and pass the bill?

… The answer was, you guess it, no. It failed miserably by a vote of 235-174, with 38 Republicans joining Democrats to vote against the bill.

… So, since Trump and Musk said they were going to run primary challengers against every Republican to vote against the bill, that means they have 38 MAGA Republicans to go after now. VOTE THEM OUT!

… Rand Paul called for Elon Musk to replace Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House. That would make Musk both President and Speaker while Trump works on his golf game so he can defend his Club Championship at Doral this summer. Maybe MAGA Mike can be his new caddie. Trump appointed his old caddie Dan Scavino to Deputy WH Chief of Staff, so that has proven to be a good stepping stone to bigger and better things.

… Marge Greene: “I’d be open to supporting Elon Musk for Speaker. The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way.”

… Sen Mike Lee (R-UT): “House Republicans should hire either Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy as Speaker.”

… Alex Jones (R-Looneyville): “Not only do I support making Elon Musk the Speaker, we need to make it a reality ASAP. Anything the Left hates we must do!”

… Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC): “Elon Musk is a successful businessman. If he was Speaker, I think he would do a great job. But it’s a different world up here. That would make it interesting.”

… Trump told Fox: “If the Speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all the traps set by Democrats, he will easily remain Speaker.”

… Rep Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) walking into the House today: “James Comer for Speaker! He’s the hero Republicans need!”

… Fox is reporting that a group of House Republicans have decided to try and oust Johnson from the Speakership when the election is held on January 3. They report that 3 names are being considered: Tom Emmer, Jim Jordan, and Byron Donalds.

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY): “I’ll vote for somebody else. I’ve got a few in mind. I’m not going to say who yet.”

… Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL): “I hope that there are no problems with the Speaker’s race. We don’t have time for that. But the fact remains that this package is doing incredible damage within the conference. I’ve already seen one of my colleagues make a statement that he won’t be supporting Johnson. I hope we can work through this because Americans deserve far better than personality conflicts and temper tantrums.”

… CBS asked Sen Josh Hawley if Trump expressed frustration with Mike Johnson to him when he spoke with him: “Yes. Yes, he did.”

… More Hawley: “This song and dance has really gotten old. Johnson WROTE this bill. It is 100% his. The secret pay raises, the Obamacare carve-outs, the Pharma giveaways, the censorship funding - all of it.”

… But Johnson actually didn’t write the bill. Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith wrote the bill. Everything in this was his work. Yet somehow nobody seems to be noticing that because he is flying under the radar while Johnson takes the heat. Shakespeare’s Henry IV comes to mind: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

… Sen Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “The toddlers are clearly running the kindergarten over at the House Republican caucus.”

… Sen Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to CNN: “It’s a fascinating mess.”

… Johnson then pulled out of Charlie Kirk’s huge AmFest event this Saturday in Arizona where Trump was a headliner. This is a huge event with dozens of Deplorables headlining it. Johnson knew he was about to be booed off stage worse than Lindsey Graham at a Trump rally.

… Johnson is on the ropes because the Mini-Omni-Christmas-Bus CR that Mike Johnson negotiated with Democratic leaders in the House and Senate was blown up by Elon Musk last night as he demanded that Republicans oppose it, and as the day went on many of them dutifully complied. Johnson huddled in his office with JD Vance last night trying to figure out a path forward as the government will shut down Friday night, which will likely extend into the holidays.

… Right-wing Daily Caller reports that Johnson’s Speakership is likely coming to an end. They quote a senior GOP House staffer: “Johnson spent a lot of time fundraising off of selfies with Trump and then betrayed him. He’ll have to answer for that in January.”

… A different GOP House staffer told Caller: “On every important issue this majority has faced, the Speaker has shown himself to be inept and outsmarted by Biden and Schumer and is too easily willing to surrender.”

… Emperor Musk: “The terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!”

… Musk then said we should shut down the entire government from now until January 20. “We will be fine for 33 days.”

… Fox reporter Liz Elkind reports an anonymous House Republican said this to her: “Musk and Vivek should not have jumped in at the 11th hour and should have handled it directly with the Speaker. Folks on the same side shouldn’t act like these two. They’re more about the clicks and bright lights than getting the job done. I’ll have nothing to do with them after watching them trash the Speaker.”

… Another quote from a House Republican to Elkind: “Trump doesn’t understand Congress. He wants all GOP wins and no concessions to Dems. The Senate and the WH are still run by Dems. He’s not living in reality.”

… Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): “It appears that Elon Musk is trying to take the role of an unelected President, and it appears Donald Trump is following his orders.”

… Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT) referred to Elon today to the press as ‘President Musk.’

… If Trump hears the President Musk thing a few times he will come unglued.

… His Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked by Business Insider about people on social media calling Musk the real president: “As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”

… This statement by Leavitt is Full Alternative Facts. They did not do that. In fact, most House Republicans came out against the bill long before he weighed in, and it was in response to Musk’s posts - not Trump’s. And none of them seemed to understand what he wanted when he finally did weigh in.

… Far-right Gab CEO Andrew Torba: “Musk, unlike Republicans, understands how to wield power against his enemies. He can whip up tens of millions of people - and dollars - into action against those who stand in his way overnight. These feckless effeminate cowards in Congress don’t stand a chance.”

… Trump told ABC’s Jonathan Karl today that if there needs to be a government shutdown, he want’s it done now while Biden is president because he thinks most people will blame Biden for it: “A shutdown only hurts the person who happens to be president. That’s what I tried to teach Kevin McCarthy, but I obviously didn’t do a very good job because he just kept giving them extensions.”

… EVERY legacy media outlet wanted an interview with Trump at this crucial time in the negotiations today, but who did Trump give this scoop to? ABC. Didn’t they just pay him $15 million? And if ABC doesn’t like this suggestion of possible impropriety, they shouldn’t have settled the case, because this is going to happen a lot now.

… Rep. Chip Roy didn’t want to raise the debt ceiling. So Trump posted today on Truth Social that he was going to go after Roy and try to primary him: “I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the primary. He won’t have a chance!” Roy responded that he didn’t care and said he was still voting against the deal.

… Roy also endorsed Desantis against Trump last year in the presidential primary.

… Mike Pence then chimed in to try and come to Roy’s rescue as Trump was blasting away at him: “Chip Roy is one of the most principled conservatives in DC and people across this country are grateful for his stand against runaway federal spending. We can’t just keep piling trillions in debt on our children and grandchildren.”

… The reporting from Fox on this mess: “Fox is told that Trump’s unexpected demand to tackle the debt ceiling in this package complicated matters exponentially. Many conservatives won’t vote for any debt ceiling increase. Democrats have bailed out majority Republicans on every major fiscal bill this Congress. They appear to be through helping Republicans.” As it later turned out, they were.

… More from the Fox report: “Many members with whom Fox spoke last night are now resigned to a VERY HIGH chance of a government shutdown - perhaps one which bleeds through Christmas. There simply isn’t a combination of votes that unlocks this puzzle yet.”

… Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) after Trump finally decided to get involved: “The Puppet President-Elect weighs in to faithfully execute his benefactor Elon Musk’s orders.”

… Rep. Jasmine Crockett on why Trump suddenly wants the debt ceiling raised now: “Those Trump tax cuts expire in 2025. He is the only president we’ve ever had who in one term ran our debt up to $8 trillion. He already knows he’s about to run our debt up, so he doesn’t want to have to deal with the debt ceiling, instead he wants us to do it. Listen, I ain’t got no favors for you, Trump. When you get here, you will have the House, Senate and White House, then y’all can try to figure it out.”

… Politico: “Senior Hill Republicans are super peeved that Musk … began making demands that are impossible … Trump got caught flat-footed as Musk’s opposition spread like wildfire, igniting the Right, and thus had to chime in with his own concerns … We’ve chatted from multiple sources last night, and no one seems to know the way out.”

… Hakeem Jeffries: “House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government, and hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”

… The Hill: “Mike Johnson is under heavy pressure from conservatives on and off Capitol Hill to scrap the negotiated CR and shift to a ‘clean’ bill that drops many of the additional provisions agreed to by the two parties. That includes economic help for the nation’s farmers and $100 billion in emergency aid for victims of natural disasters.”

… Sen Ted Budd (R-NC) didn’t sound happy about a clean CR being suggested: “No CR without disaster relief for Western North Carolina.”

… Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Matthew Boyle with a very accurate take on how Mike Johnson has been fooling people like Trump & Musk to keep their support: “Here’s how this movie goes. First, he will lie to you and say he will fight NEXT TIME. Then he will claim he agrees with the concerns conservatives are raising. Then he will text or call