Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is floating Elon Musk to be Speaker of the House after the powerful, billionaire tech businessman helped torpedo a bipartisan agreement on a short-term spending bill.
Why it matters: He's the first GOP lawmaker to explicitly suggest Musk should be Speaker, and his comments come as Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) bid to keep his job is under serious threat.
Musk has already emerged as one of the most powerful voices in politics, and has become one of President-elect Trump's closest confidants.
What he's saying: "Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk," Paul posted on X on Thursday morning. "[T]hink about it . . . nothing's impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka 'uniparty,' lose their ever-lovin' minds)"
Between the lines: The Constitution does not specify that the Speaker of the House has to be a member of the chamber — though they always have been.
non-representative names have been floated over the years during Speaker elections. paul has long been an advocate for slashing government spending, though he is in the wrong chamber to have much say over who will win the Speakers' gavel in January's floor vote. Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning that Johnson will "easily remain speaker" if he "acts decisively and tough" and eliminates "all of the traps being set by Democrats" in the spending package.
no chance Elan Munk would take a role requiring any sort of responsibility in group processes/protocols. he is way too aggressively stupid to have the capacity for it and would never even try to learn. nor would he accept some junior bodyman standing there whispering what he needs to do next.
the guy is way too egomaniacal to be in a room that has rules for when to talk and when to shut up. even reading his court transcripts made it obvious how much he resented being temporarily, narrowly subjected to a far more simple version.
He'd have to attend the state of the union too and just sit there for an hour, which is kinda funny to think about
He would absolutely bring a laptop and start playing Diablo.
this exact same sentiment is true about donald trump but that certainly hasn't stopped him.
This is why Donald Trump has never run for a legislative seat.
There's a big difference between chief executive, and legislator. One at least needs a passing familiarity with parliamentarian rules, motions, objections, that sort of nerd shit. The other needs to be able to make speeches, and act as a figurehead.
That being said, I fully support Elon Musk becoming speaker of the House. Watching him crash&burn will bring me so much joy.
being president of the US or of a company doesn't have group organizing protocols. one just can run their mouth and make pronouncements.
sure, but that's what that parliamentarian loser is there for anyway. it's not like the speaker is always a lawyer who's memorized robert's rules or whatever. but that's regardless of what i intend my broader point to be, which is while it's true he wouldn't like the role, he's also far too stupid to know that.