If Congress can’t pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government by Sunday, Republicans will have caused yet another government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to be willing to work with the Democrats to make something happen, the Washington Post reports, but then Elon Musk started tweeting, and before we knew it, the continuing resolution was dead. It wasn’t just one tweet, either. Musk spent hours trashing the bill, posting something like 70 times in an attempt to stop its passage. Ultimately, he was successful, but that does raise one important question — Who the heck is running Tesla while Musk plays president?
Last we heard, Tesla was no longer a car company and had, instead, been transformed into an AI/robotics company that was going to solve autonomy in the near future. That’s a big deal, and it seems like something that certified mega-genius Elon Musk should be focusing all of his attention on. He’s got other companies to run, too, but if you take him at his word, once Tesla solves autonomy and begins selling personal robots to every single person in the world, it will turn into a multi-trillion-dollar business that’s so valuable, money will essentially become irrelevant. Shouldn’t Musk be focused on making that happen?
Nope, instead, he’s dictating domestic policy by pressuring lawmakers into doing what he wants. Which he can do, apparently, because there are effectively no limits on how much money the wealthy can spend in elections, and if they don’t do what he says, he can simply fund primary challenges against them in 2026. Isn’t it great that the rich and powerful can do whatever they want, interfere in politics whenever they want and ensure they get tax cuts while raising taxes on regular working people?
Don’t worry, though, Elon may have lost his gajillion-dollar pay package again, but he still plans to fight to get that back on appeal. You know, because he’s working so hard at Tesla, both day and night, and really does deserve to add another $50 billion to a fortune that already makes him the wealthiest man who has ever lived. In all seriousness, though, if the Supreme Court wasn’t mostly made up of partisan hacks who are happy to twist the law to be whatever they want it to be, would anyone actually buy Musk’s argument that he deserves this bonus? Aren’t CEOs an integral part to a business’ success? If they are, then how is Tesla going to function while its leader runs the country from his Twitter account?
The next however many years are going to be just great as we watch the rich strip our democracy for parts, enriching themselves and screwing over the rest of us. And while Trump will be an important part of that, Musk is the one with the money, which gives him an incredible amount of influence despite the fact that no one voted for him, and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is nothing more than an advisory committee with no real power. Apparently, that’s also more important than anything Tesla is doing, too. Because the man certainly isn’t focused on solving autonomy right now.
While wealthy oligarchs like Musk may have money and power, it’s important to remember that there are more of us than there are of them, and they need us far more than we need them. It won’t be easy, but we don’t have to just sit back and let the wealthy trample all over us. At the very least, we can band together and agree to stop buying Teslas. Musk needs those sales to prop up his meme stock and maintain his influence over the country, but he can’t force anyone to buy one. In the meantime, let’s all be sure to support the Amazon workers who are standing up to Musk’s billionaire buddy Jeff Bezos. They aren’t going to take the abuse anymore, and neither should any of us.
