If there were any doubts about Elon Musk’s political influence in today’s Republican Party, they were largely dispelled last week. After all, the richest person in the world managed to play a leading role in derailing a bipartisan spending bill negotiated by the Republican Party’s own elected congressional leaders.
Furthermore, as the process progressed, Republicans made no secret of the fact that they were in frequent communication with Musk – keeping him informed and informed of the nitty-gritty details as if he were the president-elect – despite the fact that he heads a powerless advisory panel that has no real legal authority.
But as strange as it was to watch the trial unfold this way as actual policymakers scrambled to prevent a government shutdown, the Republican Party’s position on the controversial billionaire is getting stranger and stranger.
On Friday night, for example, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma appeared on CNN and boasted about Musk and Donald Trump “working together as a team” before the closing deadline, as if the billionaire was somehow the vice president-elect.
Two days later, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee also appeared on CNN and stated, referring to the bipartisan spending bill his party had rejected a few days earlier: “Thank God Elon Musk bought Twitter because that’s the only way we even know what is in this bill.”
Maybe the senator should have thought about this a little more. For starters, Musk hasn’t helped lawmakers “know what’s in this bill”; in fact, he did the opposite by spreading misinformation about the legislation that was falling apart under its watch. Even Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana publicly admitted, “Elon said things that were, quite frankly, not true.”
Furthermore, the idea that fake tweets from a billionaire were “the only way” for senators to know what was in the legislation is belied by the fact that senators and their aides could just read the bill. Indeed, Hagerty is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The idea that he, in particular, relied on false claims from Musk suggests that the Tennessean and his office did not do their work particularly well in advance of an important deadline.
But around the same time Hagerty appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, another congressional Republican went even further. NBC News reported:
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, likened tech mogul Elon Musk to a “prime minister” on Sunday and praised Musk for speaking out against an early version of an emergency funding bill last week. “It’s pretty interesting,” Gonzales said during an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels like Elon Musk is our Prime Minister.”
In context, as a video clip of the comments makes clear, Gonzales’ comments were not a complaint. The Texas Republican previously made this comment as if it were a positive development. The congressman added that he spoke with Musk “a few times” last week amid the unexpected Capitol Hill drama.
When CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reminded lawmakers that Musk is not an elected official, Gonzales, after suggesting that the billionaire is in fact “our prime minister,” said Musk’s vote is “a reflection of the voice of the people ‘. .”
So a few things.
First, although parliamentary systems vary around the world, prime ministers invariably have to win some election before they can claim power. Being friends with a newly elected president should not be enough to hold a position of authority – in this country or any other.
Second, while Gonzales may view the world’s richest person as “the voice of the people,” there is compelling evidence to the contrary. In fact, the latest public opinion survey shows that the American people are not entirely comfortable with an unelected billionaire exercising government influence.
The more Republican officials shrug in response to such evidence, the more they invite a response.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
