When the government was on the brink of a shutdown, it was Elon Musk and not Donald Trump that stood at the center of the story. Late Night with Seth Meyers used "A Closer Look" to examine just how Musk has become the de facto leader of the Republican Party.
Musk publicly aligned himself with Donald Trump near the end of the 2024 campaign, although it didn't exactly shock anyone. What is a little more surprising is how Musk has become a highly visible figure since the election, staying at Mar-a-Lago, traveling with Trump, and apparently holding sway over the GOP.
On Thursday night, Seth Meyers highlighted how Musk seemingly influenced Republican sentiment over a bipartisan spending bill designed to avoid a government shutdown. It put pressure on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to come up with a budget before midnight on Friday.
"A Closer Look" called out Donald Trump's past claims that donors would never control his campaign or politics. But according to Meyers, the now-constant involvement of Elon Musk suggests just the opposite is true.
The Late Night host noted how attached Musk and Trump have become. It's not exactly the lifestyle Meyers would choose if he had Musk's fortune. "I'll tell you this much, if I was worth $400 billion, I would not spend all of my free time with Donald Trump. I would do jack s***."
But that's exactly what Musk is doing. His tweets about the spending bill earned widespread media coverage and raised questions about his relationship with Donald Trump. For Meyers, he sees it ending in disaster.
"A Closer Look" didn't have much pity for the Republican Party. According to Meyers, the chaos surrounding the near-shutdown of the government is a consequence of giving control back to Donald Trump (and apparently Elon Musk).
"We're already seeing the chaos that ensues when you deputize the world's richest man as your co-president," Meyers said. "A Trump-led oligarchy won't just be corrupt, it'll be incompetent."
Knowing how much Trump pays attention to media coverage, Seth Meyers probably won't have to wait long for his prediction of a disastrous end to the Musk-Trump partnership to come true.