Congress fight sent conservatives wake up call that Trump may not be on their side: report

While Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have conservatives excited about major government cuts, Donald Trump is poised to spend the money they save to fund his big promises, according to a report Tuesday. Politico wrote that 38 House Republicans' refusal to support Trump's demands in a funding bill last week — including his request to increase the debt ceiling — gave a clear message about what they think about his spending ambitions. "That move is a reminder that Trump exploded the deficit and greenlit billions in additional spending during his first term — two overall budget concerns that the House Republicans who opposed last week’s bill say they want to fix," the report said. “The incoming executive branch is on our side.” Rep. David Joyce suggested making cuts with the mandatory spending on big-ticket items like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which Trump promised he wouldn't touch. “Their primary benefit is going to be expose — if they can highlight the stupid then Congress has to defend the stupid, or they have to get with the program to fix the stupid.” Based on the 2023 fiscal budget, Musk and Ramaswamy could kill every department in the government and fire every person working who doesn't fall under defense, and they still wouldn't meet their $2.5 trillion goal.