National Review Writer Blasts ‘Neophyte’ Elon Musk for Meddling in Government Shutdown Fight

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

National Review senior writer — and Mediaite alum — Noah Rothman counts himself among those conservatives who are less than enthused about Elon Musk’s meddling in the ongoing fight over a looming government shutdown.

Under the headline “Elon Musk’s Ill-Informed Foray into Shutdown Politics” and subheading “The neophytes should not be setting the agenda,” Rothman submitted that “Musk would benefit from the humility that accompanies acknowledged ignorance.”

Earlier this week,  Musk embarked upon a mission to kill the deal to keep the government open negotiated by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), deriding it as “criminal,” “an outrage,” and “madness.” Musk went so far as to threaten the jobs of those Republicans planning on voting for it.

While Rothman had no love for the legislation Musk blew up, he objected strenuously to Musk’s call for “no bill” to be passed by Congress “until Jan 20,” when President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office.

“The political pitfalls for the party that instigated a shutdown at a time that would be maximally advantageous for Democrats, who are capable and practiced demagogues when it comes to government shutdowns, would seem obvious. But they’re not obvious to Musk,” he observed. “Every few years, Republicans who are duly concerned about the nation’s fiscal trajectory convince themselves that, this time, a government shutdown may actually be popular, particularly if the logjam that culminates in a shutdown is a standoff over public spending. And every few years, those Republicans find out that they’re still wrong.”

Rothman went on to provide several historical examples of Republicans paying a political price for government shutdowns before arguing that while “Donald Trump has a mandate to pursue real change,” “voters did not entrust him with control of the government because they welcome chaos and long to see their political opponents suffer.”

“If you have been around for long enough to know how this story ends, you don’t need to be informed of all this history,” he concluded. “But those of us who are just tuning in could probably use the refresher, particularly when it seems like the neophytes are setting the agenda.”