America is on the brink of a government shutdown, courtesy of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The president-elect and his new ally, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, have caused chaos in Washington, and a partial shutdown is expected to occur at midnight on Friday.
The crisis began when Musk tanked a year-end spending deal, and Trump demanded new debt spending authority that he never had a chance of getting through Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s desperate Plan B only sparked a revolt on the House floor against Trump by 38 Republicans and almost all Democrats.
The mayhem has revealed several key challenges for the incoming Trump administration. First, the recalcitrance of the House GOP shows that Trump won’t be omnipotent, even as an unusually powerful president. Second, the crisis has enlivened a Democratic Party that was despondent and directionless after Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat. Thirdly, the Capitol Hill farce has demonstrated that Trump may have created a political monster in his close alliance with Musk, which could undermine him once he’s back in the White House.
The impasse augurs ill for Trump’s capacity to govern effectively and enact his agenda, even with a GOP monopoly on Washington power next year. The president-elect had no pressing need to precipitate the crisis, and his hubris and the involvement of Musk led him into a treacherous spot.
The showdown was set off by the belief among some Republicans that a clear Trump election victory equipped them with unassailable authority to act exactly as they please. Trump’s supporters believe that they have a mandate for slashing reductions in government and huge budget cuts, so it’s hardly surprising they’d balk at a multi-billion dollar spending spree.
However, any bill to keep government open into next month needs Democratic votes in the House, and Democrats still control the Senate and the White House. Therefore, it’s unlikely that Trump’s demands will be met, and a government shutdown is a very realistic threat, spanning the holiday season and stretching into the next Congress in January.