Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) launched a tirade against billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, accusing him of attempting to control the Republican Party and calling America an “oligarchy.”
Sanders’s remarks came after a 1,500-page pork-laden spending bill intended to prevent a government shutdown was shelved after Trump and Musk’s vehement opposition.
Musk, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), utilized his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), to disseminate over 100 posts criticizing the spending bill.
He labeled the legislation as excessively laden with “pork” and special-interest provisions, urging Republican lawmakers to reject it. Musk went further, threatening to financially back primary challengers against any Republicans who supported the bill.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, took to social media to vent his frustrations, accusing Musk of trying to “buy off” lawmakers who dared to support the legislation.
“The wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, began tweeting his opposition to this legislation. In fact, he was very blunt about it. He told Republicans that if they voted for this proposal, which they had already agreed to do, he would take out his wallet and spend as much money as it took to defeat them in primaries and drive them out of office. You got that?
Take a deep breath and appreciate what’s going on here. The wealthiest person in the world, who spent at least $277 million to elect Donald Trump in a Republican Congress, has now claimed complete ownership of that party.
What he is saying is, “Hey, Republicans, forget your constituents, forget your constitutional responsibility. If you don’t do what I, Elon Musk, want you to do, you’re out of office, and I have the money to do just that.”
My friends, what we are looking at here has nothing to do with democracy. What we are looking at here is oligarchy. This is, plain and simple, government by the billionaire class, for the billionaire class.”
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