Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says billionaire Elon Musk should replace Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as House speaker after he killed a bipartisan spending bill to keep the government open.
“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . . ” Paul wrote in a post on X.
“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).”
Earlier this week, lawmakers had reached a bipartisan plan to fund the government through March 14, 2025 and prevent a shutdown days before Christmas.
The original bill called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers, a pay raise for members of Congress and health care policy extenders.
But, Musk spent much of Wednesday railing against the legislation in a series of post on X, some promoting lies, and even threatened to primary any Republican lawmaker who support the bill.
Trump also criticized the deal, after Musk, and repeated the threat to primary any Republican lawmaker who support the legislation.
In response, Johnson scrapped the deal even though there is no clear path forward to prevent a shutdown Friday.
Johnson’s handling of the spending bill has thrown his speakership in doubt ahead of the Jan. 3 vote in Congress.
“If the Speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump told Fox News Digital in an interview on Thursday.
