Posted on 06/05/2025 4:55:45 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The speaker is mounting a multi-front rebuttal to the billionaire’s criticism — and trying to keep the backlash contained.
Mike Johnson has spent his 19 months as speaker forging a close relationship with President Donald Trump — in part to avoid the social-media bombshells that derailed so many Republican priorities during Trump’s first term.
Now he has to deal with another, perhaps even more unpredictable online bomb-thrower.
Elon Musk’s decision to launch a sudden scorched-earth campaign against the GOP’s domestic-policy megabill has forced Johnson into a sudden scramble to save the centerpiece of the Republican legislative agenda.
Starting in the moments Tuesday after Musk first called the bill a “disgusting abomination” through the tech mogul’s open breach Thursday with Trump, the speaker has mounted a multi-front rebuttal to the criticism — aiming to keep the backlash from spinning out of control.
That has included questioning Musk’s personal motives for opposing the bill, challenging Musk’s claims (backed up by independent scorekeepers) about the bill’s fiscal impact, promising other legislative actions that will address Musk’s concerns and otherwise questioning the Tesla and SpaceX chief’s understanding of the legislative process.
“Look, I’m a fiscal hawk myself,” an exasperated Johnson told reporters Wednesday evening. “If I could cut $8 trillion in federal spending today, I would do it, but I do not have the votes for that. So, this is a deliberative body. It requires consensus. It took us over a year to reach the consensus, to get 217 votes necessary to make the cuts that we have.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
As Speaker Johnson admitted they have been hard at work on the BBB for 14 months now. A few more months of labor and they could birth an elephant.
SJ is a weak Leader.
BiZiden spending levels is total kr@p.
Too bad that Johnson didn’t scramble to keep ‘the megabill’ from sucking so badly.
If Congressional Republicans are swayed by the likes of Elon Musk, then they have no place representing the people of the State they are from.
Mike Johnson has done a great job given the small majority he has. Find a Dem to go after.
Musk/Trump is only dramatic theater to keep the media focused elsewhere. By summer, everything will realign as it should.
Look at the big picture. Anyone that thinks you can chew down our huge deficient in one sweep isn’t thinking rationally.
“Look, I’m a fiscal hawk myself,” an exasperated Johnson told reporters Wednesday evening. “If I could cut $8 trillion in federal spending today, I would do it, but I do not have the votes for that. So, this is a deliberative body. It requires consensus. It took us over a year to reach the consensus, to get 217 votes necessary to make the cuts that we have.”
Speakers cannot force members to vote with leadership. Even Tip O'Neill, who had a lot more power than Johnson ever dreamed of, couldn't do that.
It’s always extremely contentious during an incoming administration’s first big beautiful bill. It will pass. Then they will pass the DOGE cuts in a different bill.
Musk/Trump is only dramatic theater to keep the media focused elsewhere”.
.
Newt Gingrich just popped up on FOX to agree with me.
:)
HA!
People need to be realistic...Elon seems to think the US budget is Twitter...just cut 80% of the workforce and we’re good...that’s not how it works. Trump learned this the hard way 2017-2020. The reality is the American people are not going to be ready for real, deep cuts until the sh#t hits the fan and we’re forced to do it...unfortunately.
I know it can't, and likely won't ever be knocked down. Repukes like to spend money as much as RATS, and on bullshit stuff too.
The media of today is incapable of being concerned about more than one thing at a given time. That's why it takes 10 reporters to write an article these days. They're hooked together like in the barrel of monkeys game.
⛽ up over 3.16 today. 19 cents up in just a day.
Wheelbarrows or Territorial 🗞️(map) 🇺🇸 Capitalization.
Notice how the Politico is spinning this in favor of Trump and Johnson and the BBB and spinning it against Musk.
Politico says “suddenly”. No Musk is saying what he has been saying for over a year. He is saying what most FReepers have been saying since the IRA in 2021.
Politico says other things that just are not reality.
lol
“SJ is a weak Leader. BiZiden spending levels is total kr@p.”
You are correct on both counts.
Here is the fundamental problem.
These people in Congress are Swamp Filth. They are filled with the attitude . . . “we don’t have to votes to do what must be done. So we’ll do something less that we do have the votes for and create an illusion that what was done was a success.
THIS IS WHAT GOT $37T IN DEBT. Doing that something less.
Does this mean total upheaval of society?
Yes. Does this mean burning it all down? Probably.
Does that mean the concept must be dismissed and the process that created $37T should continue?
Yes, that’s the difficult question, isn’t it?
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