Mike Johnson Snubs Trump With Plan C on Government Shutdown

House Republicans seem poised to give Donald Trump the finger for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Speaker Mike Johnson announced a new continuing resolution plan on Friday that does not include what the president-elect has been pining for for days: an extension to the debt ceiling.

“We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward,” Johnson told a room full of reporters. “I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet.… I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”

Johnson’s new plan, which he has not yet discussed with Trump, will instead be one vote that includes a spending package, disaster aid, farm aid, and the farm bill extension—no debt ceiling changes included. The plan C comes after 38 House Republicans on Thursday evening voted against a Trump-backed plan that would extend the debt ceiling by two years.

Johnson’s move is sure to draw the ire of both Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who has been threatening to primary any Republican who does not agree to a continuing resolution on Trump’s terms (or his).

Elon Musk is now threatening to get rid of Democratic lawmakers, but he has no idea who he’s dealing with … no, seriously he has no idea who he’s complaining about.

Musk responded Friday to a video of Representative Richie Neal, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, where the Massachusetts Democrat slammed the unelected bureaucrat for trying to kill the bipartisan spending bill needed to keep the government running.

“A tweet changed all of it?” Neal scoffed, referring to Musk’s deluge of posts on X Wednesday and Thursday instructing Republicans to oppose the bill, threatening to oust the ones who didn’t, and cheering on the increasingly inevitable government shutdown.

“Can you imagine what the next two years will be like if every time that Congress works its will, and then there’s a tweet, or from an individual who has no official portfolio, who threatens members on the Republican side with a primary, and they succumb?” Neal asked.

“This institution has a separate responsibility based on the separation of powers,” he warned.

Musk didn’t like this at all, apparently, and replied in his new favorite way: a threat to buy Neal out of his seat.

“Oh … forgot to mention that I’m also going to be funding moderate candidates in heavily Democrat districts, so that the country can get rid of those who don’t represent them, like this jackass,” Musk wrote.

But Neal is a fairly moderate Democrat, who has been a representative in Massachusetts—a fairly Democratic state—for more than three decades. In November, he was reelected to his role leading the state’s first district by 62 percent of the vote, handily beating an independent challenger.

That’s not to say Musk couldn’t somehow find a challenger to oppose Neal, but the billionaire technocrat clearly thinks he can throw money at any problem and move the dial. While money and a right-wing propaganda machine may have an outsized influence in Congress, Musk may be starting to realize that he’s just not cut out for this whole politics thing.

The list of people who hate Nancy Mace is growing longer with each passing day.

On Friday, the cantankerous Republican representative’s former consultant took to X to air her out. 

“You can stop texting me. I fired Nancy Mace as [a] client a few months back because I’m a political consultant and not a babysitter, a sex therapist or a doctor who can prescribe fixes for chemical imbalances,” wrote Wesley Donehue, CEO of the political consulting firm Push Digital. “I don’t have time for her constant egotistical bullshit and drama in my life.”

In a follow-up tweet, Donehue clarified that he was reacting to Mace’s own attack on fellow Republicans. His comment seems to align with the jabs Mace and fellow Republican Representative Trey Gowdy have been exchanging. 

“Nancy Mace would not be in the House if it weren’t for Donald Trump, and she can’t vote the way that he asks her to today?” Gowdy told Fox News on Thursday. “I hope he’s got as long a memory for House members as he does senators that even threaten to not support one of his nominees.”  

“I have a message for Trey Gowdy: You let Hillary Clinton off the hook for Benghazi. Sit your ass back down,” Mace posted on X later that night. 

“Which bathroom do we think Trey Gowdy uses? #HoldTheLine,” she said in another, attaching a picture of Gowdy and bizarrely implying he is transgender.
 
Donehue responded to this directly on X. “Imagine wanting to run statewide and thinking this is a good idea. The upstate loves Trey Gowdy. This is what happens when a person cannot control their emotions enough to think strategically.”

Mace has made a fool of herself multiple times since the election: going on a public transphobic tirade to target Sarah McBride, the first and only trans member of Congress, claiming that she was assaulted by a trans activist who says he simply shook her hand, and now the intraparty bullying. Can’t wait to see the next desperate media ploy for attention.

Elon Musk has spent the week derailing a bipartisan funding bill, sending the U.S. government hurtling toward a shutdown. But on Friday, the tech billionaire broadened his scope from domestic to international politics with a ringing endorsement of Alternative for Germany, the country’s far-right political party.

Early Friday morning on his social media platform, X, Musk posted, “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

The AfD is an ethnonationalist party that has faced criticism for its ties to neo-Nazis and, per the BBC, considers immigrants “not ‘properly German,’” regardless of citizenship status. The party has gained traction in recent years, with Vox’s Li Zhou writing that AfD support is based on a vision of Germany “that’s white, that relies on fossil fuels, that’s hostile toward more immigrants, and that’s adopted many of the same anti-LGBTQ positions that are common among conservatives in the US.”

Musk’s endorsement, which comes with a February election on the horizon in Germany, has been celebrated by the AfD, its members, and leadership—but slammed by many others. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said of Musk’s post: “We have freedom of opinion—it also goes for multibillionaires, but freedom of opinion also means that you can say things that aren’t right and don’t contain good political advice.”

In the U.S., observers have railed against the endorsement, with conservative commentator Bill Kristol writing, “I think this should be kind of a big deal.… The AfD is Germany’s neo-Nazi party,” and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeting examples of AfD officials’ hateful actions and remarks, writing, “The AfD’s mission is to rehabilitate the image of the Nazi movement.”

Over the past year or so, Musk has gradually aligned himself with the AfD.

In October 2023, he quote-tweeted a post from a far-right German X account that supported the AfD stopping search and rescues of asylum-seekers in the Mediterranean, which the user said facilitated “European suicide.” “Is the German public aware of this?” Musk wrote, but, amid backlash, later posted, “I have not ‘supported’ any political party and don’t know AFD from a hole in the ground.”

In June, Musk expressed curiosity about the party in a reply to Naomi Seibt, a 24-year-old far-right German political activist known as the “anti-Greta.” “Why is there such a negative reaction from some about AfD?” Musk wrote. “They keep saying ‘far right’, but the policies of AfD that I’ve read about don’t sound extremist. Maybe I’m missing something.” Musk’s Friday endorsement came in a response to Seibt on X.

The world’s richest man has occasionally dipped his toes into European politics, with a major through line in his forays being opposition to immigration. Musk himself is an immigrant from South Africa.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema, former Democrat and current party thorn, made her feelings known in an “exit interview” with Semafor.

The Arizona senator, who is perhaps best known for opposing key Democratic policies, along with her DINO collaborator Senator Joe Manchin, reflected on her time in office—revealing little regret.

On her recent decision to vote with Manchin to block President Biden’s reappointment of a top labor board nominee, she simply stated, “Don’t give a shit.”

She showed little remorse for other major decisions, like going against Democrats in 2022 to oppose filibuster reform, calling it the “most important decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

“I know some people think I’m, like, this enigma or whatever, but I don’t think that’s true at all,” Sinema said. “I think, maybe, this is a place where sometimes people say things that they don’t mean. I am not one of those people.… I think I’m highly predictable.” She then refused to say who she voted for.

“Honestly, I feel like we got 40 years’ worth of work done in one term,” she continued. “I do wish we had gotten immigration done. We tried really hard, but everything else was just pretty freaking amazing.”

Again, this from the woman who was often absent from key Democratic votes to go run in an Ironman or work at some winery. She noted that she (thankfully) is done running for public office. We’ll see what kind of chaos she can cause next in the consulting and lobbying world.

A month out from Biden’s transfer of power to Trump, the president used his power to announce a massive new round of student loan forgiveness for public service workers. The news comes as Republicans in Congress are still scrambling to avert a government shutdown.

The Biden administration Friday morning said it would cancel $4.28 billion in student loans for 55,000 teachers, nurses, service members, law enforcement officials, and other public servants. The relief brings the total of student debt forgiveness under Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly five million people, according to a Department of Education statement.

The cancellations will be through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, or PSLF, which forgives public service workers’ remaining federal student loan balance after 10 years of payments. In recent years, the Biden administration has taken steps to reform and improve access to the program, which had long been plagued by mismanagement.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement praised the administration’s newly announced relief and broader success revamping PSLF, saying, “Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered.”

A White House statement from President Biden said, “Because of our actions, millions of people across the country now have the breathing room to start businesses, save for retirement, and pursue life plans they had to put on hold because of the burden of student loan debt.”

As Biden’s efforts to enact sweeping student forgiveness have largely been mired or dashed by Republican-led legal challenges, the administration has since pivoted to a revised “Plan B,” which targets specific groups of borrowers. The incoming Trump administration is expected to take a hostile stance toward student debt forgiveness.

Trump and the rest of the GOP seem to be even more at odds over the debt ceiling than initially believed.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous debt ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Friday morning. “Remember, the pressure is on whoever is president.”

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP.’ This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!” he continued in another post.

This is bad news for the party of “fiscal responsibility.” Trump floated completely abolishing the debt ceiling on Thursday, telling NBC News that it would be the “smartest thing to do.”

“I would support that entirely.… The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump said. “It doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically.”

On Thursday evening, the House voted on a Trump-backed spending bill that included a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling. That more modest measure was rejected by a whopping 38 Republicans who voted against. The infighting is set to come to a head on Friday, as the government will shut down at midnight Saturday if an agreement is not reached. Perhaps Republicans aren’t as beholden to Trump and his budget wishes as we initially thought.

Elon Musk really hopes you don’t remember when he was cheering on a government shutdown … less than 48 hours ago.

Shortly after a new “clean” spending bill failed to pass the House Thursday night, Musk took to X to lament how this was all the Democrats’ fault.

“A super fair & simple bill was put to a vote and only 2 Democrats in Congress were in favor,” Musk wrote. “Therefore the responsibility for the shutdown rests squarely on the shoulders of @RepJeffries.”

“Shame on @RepJeffries for rejecting a fair & simple spending bill that is desperately needed by states suffering from hurricane damage,” he wrote in another post.

Musk conveniently did not mention that 38 Republicans also voted against the bill.

And on Wednesday, Musk was more than happy to stir up revolt among the GOP. Not only did he blast the original continuing resolution and threaten any Republican who supported it, but he even ranted about how the government actually ought to shutter, at least until Donald Trump enters office.

“We’ll be fine for 33 days,” wrote one X user, to which Musk replied an enthusiastic, “YES.”

“No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero,” Musk wrote in a separate post, which read like marching orders to the more sycophantic GOP members, some of whom began to fantasize about a Congress led by Musk himself. Yeah, it’s gotten that bad.

Musk’s major blow-up and Trump’s last-minute request to raise the debt ceiling sent House Speaker Mike Johnson scrambling to assemble a “clean” bill. By Wednesday evening, Musk’s toddler-like tantrum had gotten him exactly what he wanted: an impending government shutdown. Too bad that wasn’t what the actual president-elect, not the unelected billionaire, was hoping for.

Now Musk’s only hope is to cast blame on Democrats, who probably would’ve supported the original bipartisan bill.

Donald Trump is desperate to pretend his shoddy leadership isn’t about to cause a government shutdown.

A “clean” spending bill, which contained a Trump-requested provision to suspend the debt ceiling for 24 months, failed to pass on the House floor Thursday evening, earning just 174 votes in favor and 235 against.

Trump tried to push the blame onto President Joe Biden, in a Truth Social post Friday.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,’” wrote the president-elect. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”

But it’s not clear that Republicans are interested in solving anything. Thirty-eight Republicans joined 197 Democrats in voting against the pared-down bill, and a good portion of those GOP lawmakers spent the preceding 36 hours cheering on a shutdown alongside Elon Musk, the billionaire trying to run Congress through threats to oust elected officials.

Now Trump’s not even really trying to avert a shutdown but simply hoping that no one will blame him for it.

Government funding is set to expire at midnight.

Mike Johnson is about to be hoist by his own petard, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries isn’t coming to the rescue this time.

During a press conference Thursday with House Democratic leaders, Jeffries was asked whether his party would consider voting for Johnson to retain the speakership amid a Republican “revolt,” if the speaker were to put something “amiable” in his continuing resolution.

“No,” Jeffries answered flatly.

The House minority leader spoke harshly about Republicans’ antics, which upended the hefty bipartisan spending bill that would have funded the government until March.

“That bipartisan agreement has now been detonated because House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government, and hurt the very working-class Americans that many of them pretend to want to help,” Jeffries said.

CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju posted on X that sources in a closed-door meeting said that Jeffries and other top Democrats have been “conveying to their members that they are in no mood to bail out Speaker Johnson from the spending drama after Donald Trump’s late demands.”

Raju wrote that Johnson had yet to connect with Jeffries since the original spending bill collapsed, and that Johnson was seeking a way forward among GOP members, who don’t exactly seem to be in agreement.

Late Wednesday, almost 24 hours after the 1,547-page bill had been released and Republicans had been running around like chickens with their heads cut off, Trump finally responded to the bill, demanding that House Republicans find a way to raise the debt ceiling—or abolish it altogether, he said later.

Jeffries previously moved to save Johnson’s job when Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene attempted to have him ousted in April, dismissing her motion to remove the Louisiana Republican as “pro-Putin Republican obstruction.”

While House Democrats sought to minimize the chaos eight months ago, their will to fight for the embattled Johnson to retain his gavel appears to have greatly diminished. And this time, Greene’s floated replacing Johnson with Elon Musk.

By Thursday evening, the image of a new “clean” continuing resolution began to emerge. This bill would suspend the debt ceiling for 24 months, until January 2027, as Trump had requested. It would also give $110 billion in disaster aid and extend the farm bill, while cutting some other provisions, such as one promoting the sale of high-ethanol gasoline.