Summary
House Speaker Mike Johnson angered both his Republican caucus and Donald Trump by negotiating a bipartisan budget deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.
Trump, feeling “blindsided” and “furious,” reportedly encouraged Elon Musk to attack House leadership on X, leading to over 100 posts that derailed the deal temporarily.
While the budget ultimately passed with Democratic support, far-right Republicans were left fuming.
The incident highlights tensions within GOP leadership and Trump’s use of Musk to wield influence over congressional negotiations.
He controls a propaganda machine that’s popular with an increasingly wide array of their constituents, and he’s personally popular with those same people. The only real thing an elected representative cares about is not being elected again, and musk is a threat of that to some elected representatives.