According to noted historian Douglas Brinkley, billionaire Elon Musk learned a valuable lesson about how government works when he failed to derail a House budget deal.
Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Brinkley was asked whether House Speaker Mike Johnson will be re-elected on Friday when the House convenes to vote, he used Musk's failed interference as an example of how Johnson outmaneuvered Donald Trump's latest close advisor.
"Donald Trump was content to let him [Johnson] twist in the wind for a couple of weeks, is now backing him," MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire prompted his guest. "What do you make of his time as speaker so far? Do you think it will continue?"
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"He has a calming demeanor as you just heard from a Democrat across the aisle that people like him well enough," Brinkley replied. "I thought that when Elon Musk kind of firebombed the potential government shutdown that you were going to get more of a war going on this time in early January, but seems like things are being quite cohesive."
"So I think he is the person," he added. "Trump likes him well enough. Musk is going to have to learn to respect that he has a skill of vote counting and doing what he does that's different than making millions of dollars like Musk does, and he will be a key person in Washington now."
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