All Hell Breaks Loose After Elon Named For Speaker Of House
Elon Musk, President-elect Trump’s nominee to co-chair the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been suggested by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as a potential replacement for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Johnson’s leadership has faced intense criticism following the chaotic collapse of the continuing resolution spending bill.
On Thursday morning, Paul floated the idea on Musk’s platform, X, emphasizing that the Speaker of the House doesn’t need to be a sitting member of Congress.
“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress… Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk… think about it… nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds),” Paul wrote on X.
Musk, a vocal critic of government inefficiency, has actively opposed the spending bill, spearheading a conservative pushback against its extravagant provisions. He has also called for electoral consequences for lawmakers who supported the measure.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk declared on X.
On Thursday, a slimmer version of the previously extensive 1,500-page spending bill was introduced but failed to pass after it did not secure the two-thirds House majority required to bypass committee review.
Democratic strategist Jimmy Williams sharply criticized Paul’s suggestion, though it remains unclear whether Paul’s remark was earnest or made in jest.
“Senators should stick to Senating and House Members should stick to their Chamber,” Williams posted on X. “No House Member gives a damn what a Senator thinks about who should be Speaker.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) expressed enthusiasm for the idea.
“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House,” Greene replied to Paul on X. “DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency. The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also weighed in on the House Speaker’s turmoil during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Wednesday. He lambasted the proposed spending plan, asserting that it would have undermined Trump from the start of his presidency and required re-evaluation by March.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s a horrible plan. I can’t believe that Republican leadership ever cooked it up,” Hawley said. “Clearly, they didn’t talk to Trump about it, and I tell you what, we need to have a serious look at who’s leading this Congress because if this is the best they could do, I mean, it’s just it’s total incompetence, this is a disaster.”
He continued, “Under this bill, they’d shut the government down again, have to do this all over again, have to raise the debt ceiling again later, the same year. This bill right here would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, and the worst part is, it is all for Dem priorities.”
On Thursday evening, Johnson and other Republican leaders met with Vice President-elect JD Vance, mere hours after the House failed to pass the spending agreement. Vance, along with several Republican lawmakers, gathered in Johnson’s office to discuss government funding and the looming shutdown deadline.
As Vance walked through the Capitol, reporters pressed him about the possibility of a deal excluding a debt ceiling increase.
“Look, I’ll say one thing,” Vance retorted. “The Democrats just voted to shut down the government, even though we had a clean CR, because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term — during the first year of his new term. And number two, because they would rather shut down the government and fight for global censorship bullsh*t. They’ve asked for a shutdown, and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to [do].”