GOP lawmakers want Elon Musk to become Speaker of the House

Within 24 hours of billionaire Elon Musk using his X platform Overturning the congressional funding bill He pushed the federal government to the brink of shutdown, and three GOP lawmakers are now calling for him to be appointed Speaker of the House.

On Thursday, Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, was the first to float the idea, in a post on Musk’s X platform. “The Speaker of the House of Representatives does not have to be a member of Congress.” Paul wrote. “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than the election of Elon Musk.”

Senator Mike Lee of Utah also endorsed Musk as speaker, although he added that he would also be happy to have Vivek Ramaswamy take the position. He told right-wing talk show host Penny JohnsonHe said to me, “Let them choose one of them, I don’t care which one, to be their president.” “This would revolutionize everything, and it would break up the company.”

Paul’s proposal was quickly accepted by another far-right elected official when Marjorie Taylor Greene, representing Georgia, Written on X“I would be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House. DOGE can only truly be achieved through control (sic) in Congress to enable true governmental efficiency. The establishment must be completely destroyed like it was yesterday. This may be the way.”

Green was referring to Musk’s role in killing a government funding deal between the two parties Current House Speaker Mike Johnson spent months negotiating with Republicans and Democrats. Although President-elect Trump and his team did not object to the deal, According to PoliticoMusk began campaigning on X on Wednesday to blow the deal out of the water, send About it more than 100 times.

Ultimately, Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance He issued a lengthy statement regarding X He called the deal a “betrayal of our country” and urged Republican lawmakers to reject the deal — which they did.

What comes next is unclear. If an agreement is not reached by Friday, federal employees will stop receiving their paychecks, and large parts of the government will temporarily stop working. But with Democrats say they have little interest In returning to the negotiating table, Johnson did He has already ruled out raising the debt ceilingwhich is what Trump is demanding, there is no clear path to a workable bill, let alone one that Musk would agree to.