Not long after current House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) bipartisan spending bill was shot down at the eleventh hour through the efforts of President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire and DOGE advocate Elon Musk, Republican Senator Rand Paul had an idea.
Why not replace Johnson with 1) someone not in government and 2) would be an advocate for eliminating wasteful spending?
Here’s what Paul is suggesting. See what you think.
Paul took to social media on Thursday to suggest Elon Musk should be the next House Speaker.
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’…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 19, 2024
“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk,” Paul said in a tweet on Thursday morning. “Think about it … nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds].”
Paul’s idea got the proverbial approval from another Republican, too.
“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House. 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,” posted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., another critics of Johnson’s.
In a separate post Thursday, Greene said Johnson “doesn’t understand the mandate.”
Democrats are all meeting together in their conference right now all giving their input so they can stick together. Good on them.
Republicans are not and we have been told nothing.
Only some Republican members are going in and out of Speaker Johnson’s office.
Do you see the…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 19, 2024
“The American people fired the Democrats, so what they want is irrelevant, and Democrats really need to take that into account,” she wrote. “Johnson needs to stop the same failed pattern making dirty swamp deals behind closed doors and keeping everyone in the dark.”
Paul’s suggestion comes amid a perilous time for current House Speaker Mike Johnson who put forth a continuing resolution that added a ton of new spending in order to get Democrat support to fund the government through March 14.
Musk on Wednesday vocally tweeted his opposition against the bill that ultimately led to its demise.
Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”
Despite the pressure on Johnson, Trump told Fox News on Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker,” provided he “acts decisively and tough and gets rid of all the traps being set by Democrats.”
For what it’s worth, the House speaker does not have to be a member of Congress.