Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Thursday posed the far-fetched but technically plausible scenario that Elon Musk replace House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) next year amid a GOP revolt over a government funding bill to avoid a shutdown.
“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk,” Paul posted on social media. “[T]hink about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds).”
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The House could elect a non-member as speaker, but such a move would be unprecedented. All of the 56 House speakers over the past 235 years have been members of the chamber.
However, with more than a month before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, Johnson’s favorability among Republicans has taken a major blow.
It took Trump and Musk, a close confidant and the world’s richest man, only about 24 hours to tank a stopgap funding bill presented by the House needed to keep the government open past Friday over the inclusion of extra spending measures. The provisions included natural disaster aid and pay raises for members of Congress.
The episode has put Congress on a collision course with a partial shutdown and raised questions about whether Johnson will have the support of his peers to be reelected as speaker when the new session commences Jan. 3, 2025.
“The voice of the people was heard,” Musk posted on his social media platform, X, following Johnson scrapping the bill. “This was a good day for America.”
In the hours before its demise, Musk flexed his political muscle by declaring the measure “one of the worst bills ever written” and advocated to “Kill the Bill.”
Trump made an 11th-hour demand that raising the debt ceiling should also be part of any measure to keep the government funded.
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“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…”
Johnson was elected speaker in October 2023 after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy.
