WNBA player Natasha Cloud has taken aim at Elon Musk with a cheeky comment about the tech billionaire “going back to Africa” after his and Donald Trump’s failed attempt to force a government shutdown.
President Joe Biden signed a bill Saturday averting a government shutdown, finally ending days of unrest after Congress passed a temporary funding plan just after the deadline.
Musk and President-elect Trump had led a conservative revolt against that bill, which extends current government funding levels until March 14, after angering what they saw as unrelated measures attached to it; including a pay increase for parliamentarians and healthcare policy provisions.
Despite the pair threatening to force out any lawmaker who did not support them, the House ultimately passed the bill after dozens of Republicans defied the incoming president and voiced their support for it.
And Cloud, who currently plays for Phoenix Mercury, raided South African businessman Musk and other “billionaires” after their bid for a government shutdown failed.
“So after you’re all gone, tell Elon to go back to Africa?” the 32-year-old wrote on X.
WNBA player Natasha Cloud has taken aim at Elon Musk following Donald Trump’s loss in Congress
Trump and Musk’s revolt against a Democratic-backed funding bill failed this weekend
Cloud then continued in a separate post, “I’m so glad ALL these billionaires have no idea how the three branches of government work… or how a bill gets passed into law.
“Shoutout to the 38 Republicans who shot down the bill in the House of Representatives while being threatened and blackmailed.”
Cloud has previously expressed her disdain for Trump, posting on Until we restore the roots… it will never grow.”
Following Trump and Musk’s defeat, the funding bill will provide $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in agricultural aid to farmers.
“This agreement represents a compromise, meaning neither side got everything they wanted,” Biden said in a statement, adding that “it ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity.” That’s good news for the American people.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had urged lawmakers to “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump insisted the deal would include an increase in the government’s borrowing limit. If not, he had said, let the closures “begin now.”
Johnson’s revised plan was approved by a vote of 366 to 34 and passed by the Senate after midnight by a vote of 85 to 11. By then, the White House said it had halted preparations for the shutdown.
Cloud has asked when Musk will be told to “go back to Africa” after attacking him on X
“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Johnson, who spoke with Trump after the vote in the House of Representatives, said the compromise was “a good result for the country” and that the newly elected president was “certainly happy with this result as well.”
The end product was the third attempt by Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic demands of the federal government: keeping it open.
The difficulties raised questions about whether he will be able to keep his job despite angry Republican colleagues and work with Trump and Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.