Musk Mobilizes the Masses

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Elon Musk isn’t messing around.

The billionaire owner of X started his day by posting a photo of the 1,500-page spending bill in Congress with this question: “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?”

Ever seen a bigger piece of pork? pic.twitter.com/ZesFCNSNKp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

Scores of Musk posts and reposts followed Wednesday, sending members of Congress scrambling to quickly declare their opposition as calls and emails began flooding the Capitol.

By the afternoon, President-elect Donald Trump declared his opposition. And within hours, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pulled the bill he had unveiled just a day earlier.

“Elon just became the most powerful person in Washington, D.C., today,” social media influencer Wall Street Mav told The Daily Signal. “He proved he can flip enough votes in Congress to halt a spending bill.”

Elon today on X giving his opinion on the 1,500+ page spending resolution. pic.twitter.com/BD9bWqm79E

— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 19, 2024

That’s no easy feat given Congress’ annual ritual of busting the budget.

Congressional leaders, who were hoping to pass the so-called continuing resolution by Friday, turned out to be no match for Musk and the legion of other popular X accounts who railed against pork-barrel spending.

Musk’s relentless focus on the bill Wednesday was particularly salient given his role with Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, whose mission is to reduce waste and cut $2 trillion in spending.

Those goals would be harder to accomplish with a bloated spending bill that adds billions in new spending.

>>> What’s Hidden in Spending Bill Congress Must Pass to Keep the Government Open?

The continuing resolution, which would fund the government until March, was supposed to be lawmakers’ final vote before heading home for Christmas. Instead of a “clean” bill, however, Democrat and Republican negotiators loaded it with a hodge-podge of unrelated policy and additional spending, including a pay raise for members of Congress.

That caught the attention of Ramaswamy, whose video Musk shared with his followers.

“Congress is about to pass a bill that blows away your taxpayer money, but they made it over 1,500 pages long so you wouldn’t read it,” Ramaswamy said. “And the worst part is, they didn’t want you to know about any of it. That’s why they made this a last-minute jam job.”

Call your elected representatives today to stop the steal of your tax dollars!
pic.twitter.com/6suIuQMcO4

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

Ramaswamy asked his social media followers to contact Congress. Musk made the same plea.

The result?

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told Fox News’ Chad Pergram that lawmakers got the message.

“The phone was ringing off the hook today. And you know why? Because they were reading the tweets, the X from Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, and they were telling me that they were, that they were listening to them. This shows the influence that President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy have in this process before they’re even in office.”

>>> Trump, Vance Throw Curveball Into Spending Fight as Hill Scrambles to Fund Government

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, pointed to Musk’s work on DOGE as a reason for opposing the bill.

“Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk recognize that if they are empowered to somehow reduce government spending and reduce our deficit because, as Elon Musk says, deficit equals inflation, that’s the bottom line,” Harris said. “When we do deficit spending, we are printing money. We are causing inflation.”

The American people didn’t send their Representatives to Washington to vote on a 1500 page bill in less than 24 hours.

The process is broken. We have to change the way business is done in Washington. pic.twitter.com/qV9oLaQSnm

— Rep. Andy Harris, MD (@RepAndyHarrisMD) December 19, 2024

Republicans who were quick to embrace DOGE’s mission last month didn’t have a choice. Musk made sure they knew the consequences.

“Unless @DOGE ends the careers of deceitful, pork-barrel politicians, the waste and corruption will never stop,” Musk wrote.

Unless @DOGE ends the careers of deceitful, pork-barrel politicians, the waste and corruption will never stop.

Therefore, there is no choice but to do so.

I wish there was another way, but there is not.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

After spending $277 million of his own fortune to aid Trump this year, Musk has threatened to use his war chest against weak-kneed Republicans who have questioned the president-elect’s nominees and his America First agenda.

Musk put it bluntly Wednesday afternoon: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

Conversely, Musk rewarded the bill’s critics by sharing their posts with his 207 million followers—helping to fuel outrage against the bill.

“If not for X, Congress would have gotten away with this ridiculous spending bill,” the account End Wokeness posted. “Business as usual is OVER.”

Don’t blame the shutdown risk @realDonaldTrump or @ElonMusk

Blame The Law Firm of Schumer, McConnell, Johnson & Jeffries™?

The Firm™? set up this demonic pattern of Christmas shutdown extortion

Hats off to all those—including @elonmusk—who helped break that vicious cycle today https://t.co/3R09Xmu00e

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 19, 2024

Musk, who was ridiculed by legacy media journalists for purchasing Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, might just have the last laugh.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet just how powerful X is now. We’re in the middle of an organic cultural and political revolution to give power back to the people,” activist Robby Starbuck wrote. “History will smile on us for what we’ve done here, especially [Elon Musk] for buying it.”

I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet just how powerful ? is now. We’re in the middle of an organic cultural and political revolution to give power back to the people.

History will smile on us for what we’ve done here, especially @elonmusk for buying it. ??

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 18, 2024

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