On Wednesday, Republicans in Congress killed a bipartisan spending package that would have averted a government shutdown.
Although Donald Trump has since taken credit for the decision, many prominent Democrats have argued that Elon Musk, who led the charge against the bill hours before the president-elect weighed in, is the one really calling the shots.
In his monologue Thursday, Stephen Colbert joined in on the trolling, referring to him as “Vice President Trump.”
“Yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson had painstakingly negotiated a compromise with the Democrats to fund the government through March,” Colbert noted. “But then that was all upended at the last minute by Elon Musk, who tweeted at 4.15 a.m. yesterday, ‘This bill should not pass.’”
“It makes sense that Musk would kill this at the last minute, because he’s an expert at blowing things up on the launchpad,” Colbert joked, showing a clip of a SpaceX rocket exploding during a flight test.
Colbert continued, “I’m sure the founders are spinning in their graves with joy at the way all of this is playing out. After all, the Constitution does start with, ‘We the people do whatever rich boy tells us. Rich boy makes the big square truck car!”
“Trump didn’t weigh in for a few hours, but when he did, it was just to echo what Musk had already said,” Colbert said, “Which is why now some folks are calling Elon Musk president.”
Colbert declared, “Well, if he’s going to be the guy running everything, I’m going to have to work on my Elon Musk impression.”
The Late Night host gave an awkward jump, referencing Musk’s widely-mocked tendency to hop around on stage.
The “President Elon” jokes and accusations have also been made by prominent Democratic congressmen ever since the spending bill was killed. Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, for instance, posted on X Wednesday, “It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump.”
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders posted, “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring?”
