Elon Musk: ‘Shadow president’ to President-elect Donald Trump tests influence in spending fight

Elon Musk has never been elected to office. President-elect Donald Trump has not tapped him to serve in any role inside the government. Until the July assassination attempt, he never even publicly supported Trump.

But this week, critics of the world’s richest man say he attained a new title: “shadow president” of the United States.

In a matter of hours on Wednesday, Mr Musk wielded his powerful X account to pressure House Republicans to torpedo a spending bill that would have kept the federal government open for three months.

Mr Musk’s rapid-fire messages - which included numerous false claims about the contents of the spending bill - ricocheted through Washington, where some lawmakers reported their phone lines were ringing all day with calls from constituents who saw Mr Musk’s posts.

More than 12 hours after Mr Musk’s first post calling lawmakers to not pass the bill, Mr Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also put out a statement opposing the legislation, and House Republicans scrapped the deal.

Mr Musk kept up the tide of critical posts throughout the day on Thursday as House Republicans scrambled to come up with an alternative.

Ultimately, House Republicans appended a two-year debt ceiling hike - a key demand of Mr Trump’s - to a slimmed-down version of the original bill that Mr Musk had decried as “one of the worst bills ever written,” though the cost difference between the two was only marginal.

But the second Trump-backed measure went down to a broad and swift defeat in the House on Thursday evening, raising the chances of a shutdown beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Mr Musk’s outsize role in sending the federal government careening towards a potential shutdown before Christmas has alarmed Democrats, academics and watchdog groups, while some Republicans said his intervention was uninformed.

The tech billionaire’s swift accumulation of political power has sparked criticism that the incoming Trump administration will function like an oligarchy, with Mr Musk pushing for policies that will further enrich him and his companies.

Mr Trump has named Mr Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as co-chairs of an outside group dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which will advocate for vast cuts to federal spending.

The outrage reverberated on X, which Mr Musk owns and where “President Musk” became a trending topic. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) posted an AI-generated image that depicted Musk operating a Trump puppet.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) posted that the move was a signal of what was to come with Mr Trump’s “Billionaire First” agenda. And Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla) wrote that “an unelected billionaire was crowned co-president by the Republican Party.”

The Republican Party has “given him so much influence over every decision they make,” Mr Frost told The Washington Post on Thursday.

“Either they’re scared or either they’ve bowed down and pledged allegiance to the richest man on Earth.”

Mr Musk did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Republicans insisted that Mr Trump was driving the push, with Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy using their social media reach to amplify his opposition to the original spending bill.

Some cautioned that the prospects for Mr Johnson’s deal were already dimming amid concerns that Johnson had acquiesced to too many demands from Democrats, veering from his promise to avoid the pursuit of a “Christmas tree” bill - a term referring to a bill that attracts a slew of last-ditch, unrelated legislation.

Several people also said that Mr Trump had communicated to Mr Johnson earlier this fall that he wanted to get rid of the debt ceiling - a demand that has been absent from the government funding deliberations but which Mr Trump revived this week.

“I think President Trump is calling the shots,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana), when asked about Mr Musk’s influence over the process.

Kennedy said he was not minimizing Mr Musk’s tweets, but said that it was Mr Trump who ultimately killed the first bill. He added it was obvious the legislation was “trouble on a stick” once he realized it included a provision that would allow for pay raises for lawmakers.

The episode underscored the political ramifications of the unprecedented role that Mr Musk has played in shaping Mr Trump’s administration. He’s weighed in on Cabinet picks, joined meetings with heads of state and now is acting as an enforcer of Mr Trump’s political agenda on Capitol Hill.

Mr Musk’s wealth, online following and political power have exploded since Mr Trump’s November victory, after he emerged as the country’s largest political donor, throwing $277 million into backing Mr Trump and other Republicans. ‘

Many watchdog groups have raised concerns that Mr Musk could abuse his access to Mr Trump and role in shaping the Republican agenda at a time when he is the target of multiple government investigations and party to many lucrative government contracts.

Mr Musk has conflicts of interest because of his businesses’ dependency on the government, said Martin Gilens, professor of public policy at UCLA who has studied economic inequality in political influence.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm, in the sense that he’s unelected and in a seemingly very influential position so that’s problematic to begin with,” he said.

Mr Trump and his transition team on Thursday pushed back against claims that Mr Musk was solely responsible for tanking the spending plan.

Mr Trump told NBC News that he had discussed his position on the spending bill with Mr Musk before the Tesla CEO’s posts Wednesday.

“I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement,” Mr Trump told NBC.

“He’s looking at things from a cost standpoint.” He described their views as in line and “very much on track.”

“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” said Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”

Mr Musk’s online tirade against the legislation was reminiscent of Mr Trump’s style of governing in 140 characters or less during his first administration.

Mr Musk posted multiple inaccurate claims about the spending bill, writing that the legislation would give members of Congress a 40 percent raise.

The maximum possible raise in 2025 under the legislation would have been 3.8 percent. Some of Mr Musk’s inaccuracies even drew feedback from members of the Republican Party.

“I love you Elon but you need to take 5 seconds to check your sources before highlighting bottom feeders looking for clicks,” tweeted Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), after Mr Musk responded to a video that claimed Mr Crenshaw was spearheading the effort to raise lawmakers’ salaries.

Mr Musk also amplified a false assertion that the bill included billions for a new D.C. stadium. The legislation would have permitted D.C. to redevelop RFK Stadium and possibly bring the Washington Commanders back to their former home, but no costs were attached to the provision. It was dropped from the compromise version released Thursday.

Mr Musk also threatened members of Congress who supported the spending bill, writing they should be voted out in two years. Amid criticism that he had overstepped and bought political influence, Musk claimed he was enforcing the will of the American people.

“The voice of the people was heard,” he wrote after the bill was abandoned.

“This was a good day for America.”

Some Republican senators on Thursday embraced Mr Musk’s influence over the legislative body, portraying him as just an ordinary citizen exercising his right to be heard.

“He’s a member of the public that has a voice, and I think what’s happened is he’s doing what Americans are doing, he’s showing up and learning the process and getting involved,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida). “And I think it’s great what he’s doing.”

When asked whether Mr Musk or Mr Trump killed the spending deal, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) said: “I think it’s a little of both.”

Other Republicans appeared eager to give Mr Musk even more power in Washington. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) noted on X that the speaker of the House does not need to be a member of Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) responded that she would be open to supporting Musk to lead the House.

“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk … think about it … nothing’s impossible,” he responded.

Mr Paul appeared to back off that endorsement on Thursday, saying when asked by a reporter if he was serious that he would leave his comment “open to interpretation.”

“Elon Musk is having an impact, and I think a good impact, in the sense that spending is out of control,” Mr Paul said.

During an exchange with an ABC News correspondent on Thursday, Mr Trump asked Mr Musk if he wanted to be House speaker.

“Should I be?” replied the tech billionaire.

“No, we’re very happy with Mike,” Mr Trump said. “[Elon] is too busy sending rockets to the moon.”

Rep. Michael Lawler (R-New York) said that Mr Musk would inevitably be focused on spending as part of his work on DOGE, and he didn’t think there were any issues with more transparency “as long as it’s accurate.”

“I don’t think there’s any problem with raising concerns about the strategy or the plan or the components of a bill,” he said.

“But I think the key that everybody has to realise from the White House on down, is, given our margins, we have to work as a team.”

Meanwhile, angry Democrats expressed concerns that the chaos on the Hill this week was just a preview of what is to come under the incoming Trump administration, when his party will also control both chambers of Congress.

“Well you have a billionaire who is what, is he running the country? So now we have two people that we have to contend with,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “It’s just alarming if this is how decisions are going to be made.”

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Anna Liss-Roy, Tony Romm and Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.