Thread by @RepMcGovern

1/ The one big thing nobody is talking about: Did Elon want to shut the government down because of his business deals with China? A thread... 🧵

2/ Trump didn’t get the one thing he wanted in the government funding deal: A debt ceiling increase so he could give himself and his billionaire friends a tax break.

But you know who got exactly what he wanted? Elon Musk...

3/ The original funding bill (that he killed) included what’s called an “outbound investment” provision—which would limit & screen U.S. money flowing to China. That would have made it easier to keep cutting-edge AI and quantum computing tech—as well as jobs—in America.

4/ But Elon had a problem. His second-largest market is China. He’s building huge factories there. His bottom line depends on staying in China’s good graces. He wants to build an AI data center there too—which could endanger U.S. security. He’s been bending over backwards to ingratiate himself with Chinese leaders.

5/ So what did Elon do? He tanked the whole thing—telling Trump to oppose it, and threatening to primary anyone who voted yes. And to cover his tracks, he claimed it was about “spending” (even though Trump wanted to suspend the debt limit for unlimited spending).

6/ What did Trump get out of all this? Nothing.

But President Musk got what he wanted: The ability to sell out the U.S. so he could make money in China. It’s all one big game to these guys. I hate it, because they’re hurting regular people.

7/ This time, Democrats won. We stopped Trump from being able to cut taxes for billionaires. But Elon’s ability to kill a bill on China that would hurt his bank account shows you exactly who Republicans work for. It’s not you. It’s the billionaires and special interests who don’t give a shit about you. Democrats can win—but we need to show up & expose this corruption every. single. time.