by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Billionaire do-badder and tight crony of the in-coming President, Elon Musk, has been in the news this week as he forcefully moved to derail a plan to fund the government for three months. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, had worked tirelessly to piece together the proposal that Musk blithely dismissed. Johnson, who barely has control of the House, even on a good day, had to work with Democrats to bring a plan together that he hoped would draw enough votes from both parties in order to pass. Musk, who has no official role in government other than apparently playing step-and-fetch-it for wobbly King of Mar-a-Lago, did not like the plan that Johnson proposed and said so. He encouraged Republicans to vote it down.
The once and future President who had been relatively silent on the matter (for him), suddenly appeared to have been sidelined by his country club guest, and now felt that he had to get into the fray for his own ego if for no other more substantive reason. He and Musk helped push Speaker Johnson into offering up a "Plan B" bill that offered far less to average citizens - yet cost even more than the original plan, the plan that Co-President-elect Musk had swiftly tanked.
Last night that plan failed when all of the Democratic Representatives voted a resounding "hell no," and 38 Republicans ignored a threat from the other in-coming Co-President (the orange one) to primary them if they voted against his approved plan for keeping the government open past midnight tonight.
Now Musk and his political partner are saying that the government will just have to shutdown and stay closed until the new President(s) is/are inaugurated on January 20th. They are also begging the general public to remember that Democrats brought this crisis upon the country - but most Americans are smarter than that.
There is talk on the internet today that perhaps there is too much leadership coming from the Republican Party and that Americans may be confused as to who is really in charge and what the party's agenda actually is.
Is the billionaire who actively and obscenely purchased his way into a position of influence running things, or is it the guy from Florida whose name was actually on the ballot? And if we do wind up with de facto Co-Presidents, will it make for enhanced leadership - or just more chaos. So far the "chaos" horse seems to be leading by a couple on lengths.
Speaker Johnson is likely to lose his gavel when Congress reorganizes on January 3rd. That opens the floor to another Republican meller-drama like the one we witnessed fourteen months ago when Johnson was finally elected (out of desperation) as Speaker. Good times!
Some are even suggesting that Elon Musk should be elected Speaker of the House - since the Constitution fails to stipulate that the Speaker has to be an actual member of the House. Elon might be a good choice for that position since he would be able to quickly reward members for backing his favored legislation with something much more lucrative than committee assignments or good parking spaces.
Or perhaps Mr. Moneybags would prefer to be the shadow President, because as John F. Kennedy famously said, the presidency "is where the real power is."
But is America ready for two Presidents - one who wages war on the poor with wild, false claims of improving government efficiency - and the other who golfs by day and posts blithering nonsense by night? Can we survive in a household with two egomaniacal daddies?
It's Friday, December 20th, and the federal government could shut down tonight and remain closed for at least a month. For those who think we can function without a federal government, get ready for a big surprise. It's going to be a long and very hard row to hoe. And then to try to emerge from a month of no operational government and be faced with two father-figures who are each trying to run the household for their own benefit.
To quote Colonel Kurtz, "The horror! The horror!"
Or, to misquote Bachman Turner Overdrive, we probably "ain't seen nothing yet!"
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