>> it is second of all, yes, we can grant that israel has accomplished some very impressive tactical fields, especially against hezbollah and kind of crippling iran's axis of resistance, so-called, but the bottom line is israel -- the political drivers of these conflicts still exist. they continue to exist. and as we have seen in the united states his own experience in this region, you can defeat this group or that group, you can kill lots of people, you can create an enormous amount of suffering, but until you actually address the political sources of these conflicts, that he will come back to this again and again. that's thank you very much. that is all in on this thursday night and alex lehnert tonight

starts right now good evening, alex smith x thank you, my friend, for continuing to follow that important story but you have to be a natural born u.s. citizen above the age of 35 to be elected president of the united states. you have to be a member of the united states senate to be elected senate majority leader, but you do not have to be a member of the house of representatives or even a natural born u.s. citizen to be speaker of the house. members of the house can vote for whomever they want, inside or outside of the government, to be there speaker. and republicans are now toying with the idea of using that strange little quirk in the u.s. constitution to hand control of the lower chamber of the united states congress to the richest man in the world, elon musk. >> unless i'm just mistaken, it seems to me that new leadership in the house is almost inevitable. given that they have all expressed such affection for vivek and elon, let them choose one of them, i don't care which one.

to be there speaker. that would revolutionize everything that >> elon musk is a successful businessman, i think if you were speaker, he would do a good job, but it is a different world up here and i just applaud him for spending his time and effort. he is a brilliant guy. >> those are republican elected officials seriously proposing elon musk as the next speaker of the house. yesterday, musk almost single- handedly blew up bipartisan budget negotiations in the house and has literally brought the country to the brink of a government shutdown. musk tweeted over 100 times, railing against the deal , often using false or misleading claims about what was actually in the bill to keep the government open. and shortly thereafter, donald trump and jd vance released a joint statement saying that they now also oppose the deal. today, the current speaker of

the house, mike johnson, spent the day in damage control mode, trying to put together a new budget deal to replace the one that elon musk killed. a few hours ago, speaker johnson released a new government funding proposal that looked somewhat like the old government funding proposal, except that some key provisions had been stripped out. provisions like funding for juvenile cancer research, funding for combating opioid abuse, and for lowering prescription drug prices. things that tangibly help the american people, and which democrats included in this bill as their price for supporting it in the first place. the new proposal also had a big gift for donald trump, a two year extension of the debt limit that would allow trump to avoid raising the debt limit in his first two years in office, which is probably why trump endorsed johnson's latest effort today and called it a very good deal for the american people. elon musk also put his stamp of approval on the new bill, calling it a much better bill.

but before anyone voted on it, democratic leader hakeem jeffries tonight made clear that whatever speaker johnson had cobbled together was not something his party was going to support. >> house republicans have abandoned that bipartisan agreement, that we entered into in good faith. a bill that house republicans negotiated. gave us your word that we were going to move forward together on behalf of the american people. it was a republican drafted bill that was posted by house republicans. and then one or two puppet masters way in and extreme maga republicans decide to do the bidding of the wealthy, the well-off, the well-connected, millionaires and billionaires, not working-class people. >> democrats were not the only

ones lining up against this bill. he was a republican congressman chip roy, again, republican congressman, speaking before the vote. >> what we are doing right now is to continue to double down on the things that are destroying the republic. i am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go before the american people and say you think this is fiscally responsible. it is absolutely ridiculous. this side of the aisle is profoundly unserious about actually reducing deficits. >> in the end, the bill fails because 38 republicans broke with their own party, their own speaker of the house, to oppose his bill. republicans so far cannot manage to organize themselves enough to keep the government open. but to hear republicans tell it, the very republicans who created this mess to begin with, it is all democrats' fault. >> the democrats just voted to

shut down the government, even though we had a clean cr, because they didn't want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term -- or sorry, the first year of his new term. and number two, because they would rather shut down the government and fight for global censorship bs. they have asked for a shutdown and i think that's exactly what they were going to do. >> 38 republicans voted against it as well. >> what is the path forward, mr. vance? >> joining me now are congressman lauren underwood, a democrat from illinois, and congressman eric swallow, democrat of california. guys, thank you both for being here, i am eager to get your thoughts on a lot of this. but first, eric, let me start with you, congressman, is the government going to shut down tomorrow night? >> eric, please. it better not, because the people who i represent, people who rely on va benefits, social security benefits, small

business loans, just want us to work together and look out for them, and what they are seeing right now is this a breaux oligarchy, this group of billionaire boys that donald trump has brought in to government are the ones who are calling the shots. and you know what? if elon musk and vivek want to make the government more efficient, that's great, my constituents want that more, and there is no one who hates government waste in my town and where i am from more than me, but if this is about just paving the way to cut social security and medicare, then i promise you that my colleagues and i will walk through hot coals and fire it to stop it. and so, what we are sending tonight is a message, and you heard it really only from leader jeffries, is that republicans are fighting for the rich, we are for the rest. >> congresswoman underwood, i thought it was fairly audacious for the vice president-elect to

say that this is a democratic shutdown, given the fact that 38 republicans voted against this bill. what can you tell me about the mood inside the democratic caucus? we know that there were reported chance of no coming from democrats tonight, how united is the party right now? how firm do believe everyone is going to stand in opposition to whatever republicans proposed on the line? >> well, democrats remained united behind our leader, hakeem jeffries, who so capably articulated on the house for our opposition to elon musk's plan to support these billionaires and the corporate tax cheats through their tax plan, and then cut social security for your mom and your grannie. i think that house democrats are going to remain united and focused on delivering for the

american people, and republicans just need to look in the mirror. they need to remember that it was mike johnson, donald trump, and elon musk who put us in this position, just one day before government funding ends. >> i just -- i guess i am astounded by the fact that thus far, the plan, if we are calling it that, is elon musk sweeps in at the 11th hour, kills the bipartisan bill, that is wednesday. thursday, the speaker of the house comes forward with a bill that democrats aren't [ inaudible ], but he can't even get his own party to vote for it. the government is barreling towards a shutdown in about 24 hours, and the house is on recess. congressman swallow well, do you think that their plan now is just to say that the democrats did this, go home, and then let government employees work for the holiday season with no paychecks? is it about finger-pointing at this stage or do you think

there is still some negotiation that has yet to happen? >> there is no plan, there is no confidence. and that is the problem with someone like musk , he wants government to be efficient -- by the way, i do think it is interesting that the department of government efficiency has two people who are running it. turns out that may not be the best way to be the most efficient. but the real people who are affected here, it's the tsa agent who two weeks ago as this was looming pulled me aside, you knew that he was going to be helping me with security at the airport, and he said my wife wanted me to ask you, are we going to be okay? those are the types of folks who are affected, you know, by these billionaire games. and to them, it is not a game, it is just can i provide for my kids around christmas time? and also, by the way, i want you to know, i was with a few republicans yesterday, as musk was rage tweeting and giving disorders, and they were completely apoplectic, and i

told one of them, i said, if you let him do this, if he does this and you don't stand up to him now, he is going to own you for the next congress, and every bill that is on the floor, you're going to wait around to see what elon musk says you are allowed to do, and that is no way to represent the people who sent you. >> i think those were wise words but at the same time, congresswoman underwood, the fact that 38 republicans voted against the bill that was kind of a last ditch effort from speaker johnson that was endorsed by donald trump, that was cosigned by i believe jd vance and elon musk, the fact that they said no, isn't that a brush back of donald trump? it is hard to understand exactly where the center of gravity is right now. >> they knew it was a bad deal, and that's why they voted no, and so, at the end of the day, we have the opportunity to come back to the floor and to vote to keep government open, we have an opportunity to express

our values and show up for the american people, to make sure that our economy keeps coming this holiday season, to ensure essential government services are funded, to make sure we are offering disaster relief, and then also funding important programs like maternal health and child cancer prevention, and making sure we are lowering the prescription drug costs, and all these other things that we have to take care of in this critical funding package. we have an opportunity to do our jobs, and i just hope that speaker mike johnson, donald trump, and elon musk will get out of the way and let us do our work. >> can i ask you a follow-up to that, though? i mean, is it your sense that if democrats are going to have to help republicans pull this over the finish line because there is too much infighting in the republican conference, that the only thing the democratic conference will count at this point is a return to the original bill, is that the sense you are getting from leadership? >> i want to be clear, what i

am speaking about when i say let us do our jobs is a bipartisan agreement. right? it is not our responsibility to bail them out. they have the majority. mike johnson is the speaker of the house, and it is his responsibility to unify his conference and to put a bill on the floor that they can support. but what i am saying is, alex, that we have interference from billionaires like elon musk, who are taking the opportunity to play orchestra conductor, and donald trump was so eager to comply. and so, that's how we find ourselves in this position, an unelected billionaire has blown up congressional negotiations and is shutting down the government, and that is what is unacceptable. >> yeah. eric, congressman swallow, what is so stunning and the reporting about this and what i understand from inside congress 's people were generally on board with passing this thing as of wednesday, there was no

mention of it, trump wasn't talking about it earlier in the week, it is really a confection of elon musk's making, and trump has almost played catch up to figure out why he is incensed about it, and added in this debt ceiling raise, almost as a face-saving mechanism to say i have decided the reason i don't like the original bill is because i need this to be in it. first of all, that is insane that elon musk is actually leading trump to be at odds with his own party, but secondly, do you have a working theory about why donald trump is soaking in to get the debt ceiling off of his plate before he takes office? >> and by the way, donald trump, you know, not too long ago, did not want his party to raise the debt ceiling. and so, this is because he is just incapable of governing, and so, he wants them to do as much as they can now, so that he doesn't have to be serious when these decisions come down the pike, but as my colleague lauren said, look, we are unified but and in the last

congress, you have never seen this in any congress in america, in any parliament in the world, the minority party, the democratic party, delivered the majority amount of votes on every vote of consequence. multiple shutdowns that were averted, lifting the debt ceiling so we could pay our bills, funding the conflict to keep ukraine in the fight, we delivered the majority. so, we are going to show common sense and competence and they are going to continue to bring chaos, and it is just on us to make sure the american people understand the difference. >> that is such an important point, that democrats were delivering the majority to get things passed, even when republicans were running the chamber. i've got to say, congresswoman underwood, donald trump is an in office yet. i think they're going to have for the first couple months of the year an even slimmer majority in the house than they do now, so how are you guys thinking about what happens next, given the utter chaos we are spiraling into before the trump administration has even begun? ask alex, i was first

sworn in in 2019 in the middle of a trump shutdown, though this is a new this is what we have come to expect from a donald trump presidency, and at the end of the day, it is our jobs to stand up for the american people and to make sure that their interests are protected, from the selfish whims of donald trump and his billionaire friends like elon musk. that is it. we have to show up every day and hold the line and that is exactly what we are prepared to do as democrats, and we will be united. >> eric, what are you telling your kids about being home for christmas? >> i'm not with my kids. my wife was just at a texas roadhouse in the midwest with her family, and she said you better get your butt home soon. so, we are all feeling it, from our spouses. but she also knows that that tsa agent is really counting on all of us, you know, to get it right, so that they can pay

their bills and take their families out to dinner as well around the holidays. >> yeah, i mean, i think for the tsa agent and for the swalwell brood, we hope you'll our home in time for old saint nick to come down the chimney. congresswoman lauren underwood and congressman eric swalwell, democrats trying to hold the line in the craziest caucus -- well, i won't say ever, because there is always next year. thank you both for the intel and the guidance tonight. appreciate it. coming up, jeff bezos becomes the latest billionaire to pay tribute to the president- elect down at mar-a-lago. what exactly do these billionaires want from donald trump? we are going to discuss that. but first, shadow president elon musk has a mess on his hands as republicans steer the country towards a government shutdown. we are going to discuss the billionaires element with bernie sanders' adviser, that is next. >> [ music ] >> [ music ] through this and see what's behind ♪

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a lot of people in congress were looking at elon musk's tweets, and you are one of them. you are looking at those tweets. does musk have too much influence? >> no, i don't think so. i think this is exactly what the american people voted for it when it voted for donald trump. they voted for competency. >> competency. competency. competency? shutting down the federal government six days before christmas?

joining me out as chief political adviser to senator bernie sanders. thanks for being here. wow. here we are. first, just let's talk about elon musk's role in all of this. i know you have been sort of like boosting the notion of elon musk as speaker of the house. >> yes. [ laughter ] >> can you just talk to me about -- first of all, i assume you're joking, but maybe not. can you talk a little bit more about the concept of elon musk running the house of representatives, either officially or unofficially? >> you and i, we have gone through years and years of this where the republican caucus, when they come into power, they cannot govern, they cannot keep a faction together. it happened with john weiner, paul ryan, kevin mccarty, it was inevitable. that mike johnson was heading in this direction. take that is the premise, now who is going to replace him? it is comical and farcical that the direction of this republican party would obviously suggest that elon musk, who doesn't know much about governing, but is a

billionaire and has bought the last election cycle, spent $250 million plus to elect a donald trump, that they would just say, hey, you take it over. and the way in which the republican philosophy is governed, there aren't substantive issues at play, it is governed by money and in the direction of wealth, so to me, it was just a natural fruition, they're going to land with the billionaire who is going to call the shots, and they're all comfortable with it. and i kind of made a joke about it last night and is coming to fruition. >> and to be done within a month and a half of republicans winning the presidency on a wave of "populism." to have literally the world's richest man decide he doesn't like a continuing resolution to keep the government open because it includes things like funding for pediatric cancer research, lowering the cost of drugs by reforming pharmacy benefit managers.

i'm not going to get into the weeds on that, but it is really important. and raises for members of congress, who are not necessarily well paid are not necessarily wealthy themselves, need to own two homes and haven't had a raise in 15 years. talk to me a little bit about the soda priorities here in terms of republicans saying, okay, elon musk says jump and we say how high? and this is what they come up with today, these are the kinds of provisions that they are taking out of their version of the continuing resolution, which they cannot even pass. >> when mike johnson came forward with this bipartisan bill, it could have easily failed and we move on to the trump administration, but out of the blue, elon musk weighs in. why did you decide at this random moment, donald trump hadn't said anything, mike johnson comes forward, they all seem to be in sync with each other, why? what was elon musk's design? and we don't really know, but i have got a theory. that theory is the debt ceiling. so, when mike johnson comes

forward, one missing link and there was the debt ceiling was not included. and the debt ceiling has been used, as you know, alex, for the better part of the decade, since barack obama was president in 2011, republicans have used that as a hostagetaking to compel democrats not to do things for working-class people. but when they come into power, it becomes a problem for them, because they need to raise the debt ceiling, i mean -- elon musk have a lot of plans to spend trillions of dollars, not only on tax cuts, but to do a bunch of stuff on immigration, including building a wall and hiring a bunch of deportation agents. so, they can't do that if the democrats are going to apply the same logic back at them that say where are your cuts? how are you going to generate revenue into this government to pay with the things you're doing? they know they have a problem with their government base, so the design of elon musk, i think was, get the debt ceiling thing into biden's world, get

it done now, place the blame on them, and i think he heard this from the business class. i've got to believe the hedge funds -- they want these tax cuts and they know in order to get the corporate tax cuts next year, they have got to raise the debt limit now. >> if that is the case, it really sounds like democrats are ready to play hardball. we had eric swalwell on in the last hour and he said democrats have pulled us across the finish line every time there's something significant were not even that significant, just the order of operations in terms of the legislative branch. democrats have saved the day, we are not going to do it again. they are barreling towards a real problem, including the immediate issue, which is that we are entering the peak holiday season and they may shut down the federal government if they don't get their act together by tomorrow night. one of the things that i think is so distressing about this is you have a bunch of millionaires, but the tech breaux and jd vance, elon musk, the world's richest man, donald trump, real estate tycoon and that is being generous, he has a lot of money, they don't understand what it is like to

not get a paycheck during the holidays. they don't understand what it is like to fly commercial airlines and deal with tsa agents who aren't being paid and the chaos that ensues when you have the infrastructure of transportation derailed by a nonfunctioning government. and these are the people who ultimately hold the levers of power in terms of deciding whether the government shuts down or not in less than 36 hours. >> they have also begun to smoke their own kind of -- whatever. [ laughter ] >> ketamine? no, you can't smoke that, go ahead, sorry. >> they have come to believe wrongly that when you cut government spending, there are no real-world impacts, because government is loaded, so to all the things you listed, alex, those are correct, however they live in this really weird world that says you can do all these things without tangible, real- world, harmful impacts on actual people, they are wrong about that. and sadly, we have to suffer through these moments in which

you learn, guess, we are all dependent, rightly so, on a government that provides for all of us court essential services and all kinds of protections of all different kinds, and maybe that is one of the linings in the rainbow here that we all learn, oh, the government is doing important things. but you're right that generally we have an elite class making decisions that are completely disassociated from working- class pain and suffering, and i hope that as we think about a debt limit -- if we take it off the table, we end it forever, which would be a good idea, the democrats are now in a very strong position to say, okay, let's negotiated because of that's where you want to go, we can carry some votes year, we could end the debt ceiling. and we have got to renegotiate this to have some demands for democrats, for working-class, middle-class issues, if that is the direction they go. they don't want to go there, and they want to play games to allow corporate tax cuts, yet, show me the boats, speaker musk, let's go. let's it is such a testament to

republican incompetence that now have the upper hand here, really a marble. thank you for your time and wisdom this evening, i appreciate you. still to come tonight, get another ceo has reportedly traveled to donald trump florida beach club to kiss the ring. what did the rich and powerful really want here? and will they get it? that is next. >> [ music ] i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. and adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for type 1 diabetes or children. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take if you or your family had mtc, men 2, or if allergic to it. stop taking and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or any of these allergic reactions.

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today, six days before christmas, the teamsters union launched what it is calling the largest strike against amazon ever. >> we want everybody to have a great christmas, but we feel like amazon has forced us into this, so, whatever impacts we have, whatever packages are late, i just want everyone out there to remember that this is because amazon is refusing to come to the bargaining table. >> we are out here in these conditions whether it is hot, cold, rain, sleet, typing, we need that respect. >> amazon says it does not expect packages to be late and says that those walking off the job today only make up a tiny percentage of its overall workforce, but amazon does not dispute refusing to come to the bargaining table. the company says it shouldn't have to. while the teamsters union says that it represents the thousands of workers demonstrating today at seven amazon fulfillment centers in new york, california, georgia,

and illinois, amazon disagrees. in a statement today, amazon claimed the teamsters union was misleading the public by saying it represents those thousands of workers, saying flatly they don't. and that dispute is actually key here. in addition to complaints about pay and benefits, the core of this fight is about whether the drivers who deliver amazon packages have the right to unionize and collectively bargain at all. amazon says it has no obligation to bargain with the drivers because the drivers are technically independent contractors and not amazon employees. to show you how well that line of logic is landing all across the political spectrum, here was a republican senator josh hawley speaking about it this week. >> this delivery service program was about 300,000 people, and according to amazon, none of these 300,000 people actually work for amazon,

which is convenient, because in reality, amazon exercises enormous control over these delivery service partners. they control their contracts, they control every aspect of their business. they tell these partners, these independent contractors which vendors to use, which routes to follow, you name it, the even monitor the performance of individual drivers, and in some cases, they, amazon unilaterally fire the drivers. so, my question is does that really sound like a classic independent contractor? >> no, senator hawley, it sure doesn't. now, amazon isn't just trying to avoid bargaining with this particular union. this year, amazon also filed a lawsuit against the agency in the u.s. government that oversees union disputes. that is the national labor relations board. amazon is claiming that that agency itself is unconstitutional.

and amazon isn't alone in that particular fight. the company is joined in an effort to overhaul the nlrb by the aerospace company, spacex, which is of course owned by elon musk. so, last night on the eve of what the teamsters union is calling the largest strike against amazon ever, where was amazon's founder, jeff bezos? well, he was reportedly at dinner at mar-a-lago with these two guys. >> you're the greatest cutter. i mean, i look at what you do. you walk in and say, you want to quit? i won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, that's okay, you are all gone. you were all gone. everyone of you is gone. >> we have no idea what donald trump and elon musk and jeff bezos discussed at dinner last night, we don't even know if today's pending labor action was even mentioned, but come january 20th, trump will oversee the national labor relations board that both jeff bezos and elon musk's companies claim is unconstitutional. and that means president trump

could play a role in resolving not just this union fight, but all the union fights at amazon and spacex and tesla and everywhere for the next four years. the wall street journal's white house economic policy reporter joins me to discuss what trumps billionaire friendships might really be all about, next. olay visibly firms, lifts, and smooths wrinkles, by penetrating the skin, to boost regeneration at the surface cellular level. try olay.

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conversation, that's what elon musk tweeted last night, appearing to corroborate the reporting that he met with both donald trump and amazon founder jeff bezos at mar-a-lago last evening. bezos is the latest in a string of ceos who have visited president-elect trump in recent weeks, including netflix ceo ted, apple ceo tim cook, and the ceo of google's parent company, alphabet, soon-shiong. >> in the first term, everybody was fighting me put in this term, everyone wants to be my friend. i don't know, my personality changed or something. >> trump is clearly enjoying all of this attention, but what do these ceos want in return? joining me now is brian schwartz, a white house economic policy reporter at the wall street journal. brian, you have been on this beat, doing some great reporting. not in the corner of mar-a- lago, but clearly well sourced about who is coming in and who

is coming out. can you first talk about how different this courtship is compared to the last time trump was the incoming president? >> it is not only different from that, but it is also different from what we have seen with president joe biden. worlds different. because the ceos last time during trump 1.0, going directly to donald trump really is the best way to get what you want but with tim cook in the first term of donald trump, you know, he was regularly in touch with him, and that was a lesson many ceos talk from tim cook, how to engage with trump on a variety of fronts, whether it is about regulation or tariffs if they're trying to look for being excluded from some of the impacts on the tariffs, this is what they have learned, and clearly they are going root one now, right to trump and mar-a- lago pickax you went to tariffs. i want to break down what interests some of these ceos might have. this is speculation because we don't actually know what the conversations were. can you talk a little bit about

how you see the sort of relationship with trump and maybe these ceos as it concerns those tariffs? >> this is one of the reasons why many of these executives are getting close to trump now, because trump has been very, very clear about what he is going to do are what he intends to do when he becomes president with these tariffs, he is trying to put these on goods coming from china, potentially from canada and mexico, and many of these businesses have business there. >> apple, china, big business. >> yeah, so you're looking at it from the perspective of, wait a minute here, if i can just get close enough to this guy, to be there is an exemption down the road on some level of tariffs potentially. and from the reporting we have done, that is been the thinking from some of these corporate leaders but we have the story on the wall street journal's website, we had a guy that reached out directly to us to try to get in touch peter navarro, because he is trying to figure out how to navigate this situation with trump as he

is about to become president when it comes to tariffs. >> it is truly personal relationships that may dictate economic policy on a major scale. i mean, i see it is already clear kind of why big tech would want to make friends or get friendly with trump, that is mark zuckerberg giving $1 million to trump's inaugural fund, which is effectively just -- i don't know, what's the right word? a basket that donald trump is collecting around january 20th. google's parent company alphabet, their ceo is down there. can you talk a little bit about the relationship between tech and the incoming the trump administration? because they have had their knives out for silicon valley for a while. >> yeah, i mean, look, after the 2012 election, donald trump was very public about the issues he has had with big tech. he pushed these ideas that many of these companies were somehow at fault for them losing the 2010 election, so this is really interesting. because now these guys are coming right back into the fold again. mark zuckerberg who has been

under attack by trump for years, came right into mar-a- lago, and now meta is giving the money to the inaugural, and again, it is this beginning clearly of this engagement or i would argue a lobbying effort to get close to trump in case things start to go away that these ceos may not like. >> we talked about in the reader before this segment began, amazon is seeing what the teamsters union is calling the largest strike ever against amazon unfolding at the peak of the holiday season. there is a lawsuit involving both musk and bezos ' company at the national labor relations board, something that trump is going to oversee, they have got a lot of labor interests that trump could be a deciding factor in, and having a close relationship with the president could be a boon for business or the opposite. >> but also getting to know elon musk is going to be critical here. what we are seeing in washington now, i watched your show, i saw the segments before, let's get really down to this point elon musk is

clearly going to be one of the most influential ceos may be in the world because of his proximity to trumpet there isn't a meeting i have heard of that doesn't include elon musk and donald trump in the same room, whether it is with business leaders, foreign leaders, with potential hires, this has been going on from our reporting for over a month. i mean, since the end of the election. and that is something we have to really keep an eye on here as we go forward. >> it is also a conflict of interest but elon musk is maybe a shadow president or a deeply influential adviser. elon musk has government contracts that are very, very lucrative through spacex. tesla is subject to federal regulations. then of course there are his social media properties. he can make policy, effectively protects also, the way they teased out this government commission, shows -- >> just saying.

this external advisory group, the way they announced it was that this group is going to have some sort of sway over omb. the office of management and budget. it is a very powerful office. it has sway over regulations and how they are deployed through various agencies. i mean, that -- and we have done reporting on this, that right there is real potential conflict that elon is going to have to face in the coming weeks and months ahead. next we will see if anyone in the administration cares about it. transports with the wall street journal, it is great to have you on the program, please keep on telling us what is happening to mar-a-lago, we need to know. >> thank you, great to be back. >> we will be right back. will . (other money manager) your clients rely on you for all that? (fisher investments) yes. and as a fiduciary, we always put their interests first. (other money manager) but you still sell commission- based products, right? (fisher investments) no. we have a simple management fee structured so we do better when our clients do better. (other money manager) huh, we're more different than i thought! (fisher investments) at fisher investments, we're clearly different. (children speaking)

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i hope that this vote passes tonight, we will send it to the senate. we will extend funding and we will come back and we will have the america first agenda, in roaring in january for the american people. >> that was speaker mike johnson, sounded optimistic about his latest effort to avoid a government shutdown, minutes before 38 members of his own party defected and the vote failed on the floor of the house. joining me now is brandon bock, former press secretary to former house speaker john and a man who knows a little about capitol dysfunction and shutdowns. brendan, steve scalise, office of the majority leader, this is the leader's daily schedule, and it says on friday, the house will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. first and last votes expected, tbd. nobody is saying whether there is going to be an alternative

proposed here, brendan. what you imagine is happening here in the republican conference? x oh, boy, well, it is usually never good when i am here with you because things are not going well. and here we are again. look, if there was an easy way out, they would have taken it by now. i think they're coming to terms with the fact that there is nothing that republicans alone will vote for to get out of this problem, which is really how they got into the problem in the first place. what we are talking about here should not be that difficult. all that mike johnson was trying to do was fund the government until march, a three- month, short-term spending package, but because he couldn't pass that on his own, because enough republicans just won't vote for anything that really funds the government at all, he had to open up the store to hakeem jeffries and add a bunch of stuff to it, and that upset republicans and elon musk and everybody else, and it fell apart. and now they tried to go back to a republican only plan and

couldn't do it, so i imagine at this point, johnson is realizing he is going to have to go back to democrats and see what their price is for their votes to get out of this jam, otherwise we are staring down a shutdown, and once you going to shut down here, i'm not sure exactly what the means of getting out of it would be other than a complete hold to whatever democrats ask for. >> and i also think if johnson does go to democrats and say, sorry, what can i do to make this work, it also means he is not going to be speaker of the house anymore, right? it is basically a professional suicide mission, which is i will do this for the good of the country, there is no way the house conference, the republicans, keep him in power, right? >> i'm not ready to say he is not going to be speaker again, but this is the cycle every republican speaker recently has found themselves in. you stretch as far as you can to the right to try to keep your members happy. they eventually walk away and undercut you. you are forced to negotiate with democrats printed out, ends up being less

conservative, but then those same conservatives who undercut you turn around and blame you for being weak need and negotiating in the way of democrats. johnson may be okay, you know, if donald trump says give him another chance, i am sure they will. but what looked like it was probably going to be easy selling on january 3rd when the new congress comes in is probably going to be much more dramatic, looking like what kevin mccarthy dealt with two years ago, when it took them 15 rounds to get there. this is just a conference, republican conference, that just can't come to terms with the sort of limits of their power. mike johnson talking about next year is going to be so much better. [ laughter ] next year is going to have the exact same dynamics that this year has had. that's well, they're going to have an even slimmer majority for the first four months of the year. by the way, it is hard for me to imagine that if donald trump

and really elon musk didn't like the first deal with democrats, like the third version of this deal were johnson maybe has to come back begging and scraping to democrats is not going to win elon musk's favor. purely just ego alone would dictate that he can't like it. i will say, in some ways, i have a lot of empathy, i feel sorry for mike johnson who is truly caught between a rock and a hard place but if you get the democrats on his side, it is hard to imagine how he gets the support of elon musk, who is the x factor in all of this. does it surprise you the degree to which he was able to manipulate this vote, which really did -- i mean, from our reporting, it looked like it was on track on wednesday? >> mike johnson had cut himself in a bad situation with a lot of members. i don't want people to have the impression that this was all smooth sailing before elon musk came along. elon musk is learning about all of this stuff for the very first time right now.

as i'm sure you have covered a lot of his tweets about this were wrong about what was in the bill. he is popping up with a bunch of misinformation about what is in it, makes it impossible to get any support in the conference, and if that is what is hanging over your head at any time, when you're trying to whip votes, get things across the finish line at any moment, elon musk is going to fire off something that you saw somebody tweet that may or may not be true, impossible situation to govern. it was already going to be really hard with that slim majority. [ inaudible ] when we were around in 2017, he could blow us up in a tweet, too. now you have that both of these guys. >> what a time to be alive, brendan buck, thank you for offering us historic perspective and prognostication, good to see you, buddy. that is our show for tonight, now it is time for the s last word lawrence. >> it evening, alex. and tonight's first word is thank you to you for depositing that beautiful holiday chocolate.