‘Who’s The President-Elect?’ House Democrat Slams Influence Of ‘President Musk’ On House Republicans
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) slammed House Republicans for abandoning the bipartisan spending bill at the whim of “President Musk,” who joined President-elect Donald Trump in demanding the measure be opposed.
The bipartisan spending bill was derailed Wednesday when top MAGA figures, including Elon Musk, put pressure on Republicans to reject it, even threatening the political future of lawmakers in the party who backed it.
Congressional leadership and Vice President-elect JD Vance then spent Thursday building a new spending bill that would appease Trump, but in a late vote, some House Republicans voted against it, killing that bill too.
Appearing on CNN to speak with host Erin Burnett, Jayapal put the blame squarely on Republicans and mocked the failure of the Trump-backed alternative bill.
What happened here was laughable. This bill that they just put up, they are in the majority. The Republicans control the house. They are in the majority. And they couldn’t even get the majority of votes for this bill that they put up.
We already had a bill. We negotiated it. Mike Johnson agreed to it. And because, as you said, Elon Musk, a billionaire, tweeted about it – President Musk tweeted about it…
Rounding on Musk, the congresswoman criticized his influence on Republicans and Trump.
What I’m concerned about is that a billionaire who is not even elected is acting like a shadow president and doing the work that Republicans have to do. Here they are in the majority. And so, no, I’m not concerned that we’re going to get blamed. This is clearly on the Republicans.
I’m shocked by the speed with which Donald Trump has ceded control to Elon Musk. I mean, this is a real crisis in my mind for Donald Trump. Who’s the president right now? Who’s going to be the president or who’s the president-elect? And who’s going to be the president come the new year?
I don’t know who we should negotiate with. Are we now negotiating with Elon Musk? Is Mike Johnson not the speaker anymore? I mean, this is abdicating all of the responsibilities of elected officials, whether it’s the Republican speaker or the Republican president to be and giving it to an unelected guy. So I am shocked at the speed with which Donald Trump seems to have conceded his power to Elon Musk.
Continuing to weigh against Musk, Jayapal slammed him as out of touch with the concerns and fears of working Americans.
It is the American people who are going to suffer. Why? Because a billionaire who doesn’t have to worry about where his rent comes from, doesn’t have to worry about, you know, being able to pay the rent or being able to afford his drugs. He is the one calling the shots and really hurting everyday Americans, working class Americans across this country who depend on the federal government to provide these different programs.
Watch above on CNN.
