'Eerie parallel' seen in Elon Musk's grip over GOP: historian

Brad Reed
December 23, 2024 
RAW STORY

Elon Musk participates in a SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2 Launch Briefing in 2020. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

X owner Elon Musk flexed his political muscles last week when he used his platform to kill a bipartisan deal to keep the federal government open.

According to Vanderbilt University historian Nicole Hemmer, this kind of outside influence is hardly novel for Republicans, who for decades received their marching orders from the late right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Writing at MSNBC, Hemmer argued that there are "eerie historical parallels" between Limbaugh's influence over the party and what Musk is pulling off right now.

"For three decades, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh bent the party to his will by dangling the threat of his millions of loyal listeners — and reliable voters — over their heads," she wrote. "As Musk tests the power of X to discipline Republican lawmakers, he is also testing whether he can replicate Limbaugh’s singular influence over the GOP — and whether he can use his power to both amplify Donald Trump’s political will and assert his own as well."

However, Hemmer also noted that there were clear limits to Limbaugh's powers and that Musk may soon find he has some of the same limitations.

"Limbaugh had the power to destroy but not create, something Musk is beginning to learn about his own posting politics," she wrote. "Hours into Musk’s online tirade, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance joined in, pressuring Republicans to oppose the deal. They did, scuttling the bipartisan agreement and substituting a Musk-Trump alternative that went up for a vote the next day. That bill, too, failed. A government shutdown was only avoided with hours to spare — and without a debt ceiling hike, Trump’s chief demand."

Hemmer also cautions Republican lawmakers that they "may want to think twice before handing their power over to an antidemocratic and unpredictable billionaire," although she doubts that many of them will see that way "given their track record on that front."