In the United States Elon Musk he managed to exploit X, the social network he owns, for derail a bipartisan agreement aimed at averting the shutdownas the freeze of US government assets is called. Now some Republicans in Congress are calling for him to come appointed President of the Chamber.
Republican Senator Rand Paul first floated the idea in a December 19 X post: “The Speaker of the House does not necessarily have to be a member of Congress – wrote Paul –. Nothing could rock the swamp more than Elon Musk’s nomination“.
Who wants Musk in the House
The proposal was also supported by Senator Mike Lee, who however added that he was happy with the role also Vivek Ramaswamywho with Musk will lead the new Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) in the next administration of Donald Trump. “Let them choose one of them, I don’t care which one, as speaker of the House – said Lee –. It would revolutionize everything“.
The controversial has also joined the chorus far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. “I would be open to supporting Elon Musk for Speaker of the House. The Doge can only truly succeed by reining in Congress so as to achieve true governmental efficiency. The establishment must be shattered just like it happened yesterday. This could be the way“, he wrote on X.
In his post, Greene referenced the Musk’s role in sinking a bipartisan agreement that the current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had been negotiating for months with Republicans and Democrats in order to avoid the shutdown. At first Trump and his team did not oppose the deal, but as reported Politico Musk then started a campaign on X to scuttle the deal, to which he dedicated more than 100 posts. Ultimately, Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance published a lengthy statement on X calling the plan a “betrayal of our country” and urged Republican lawmakers to reject it, as they duly did.
The situation in the United States is now very uncertain. If Congress does not reach an agreement by Friday, December 20, public employees at the federal level will no longer receive their salaries and large parts of government will temporarily stop functioning. And considering that the Democrats have declared that they are not interested in returning to the negotiating table, and that Johnson has already ruled out the possibility of raising the public debt ceiling as requested by Trump, There doesn’t appear to be a viable path to avert the shutdown on the horizon.
Musk’s influence on American politics
Once the first agreement fell through, Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley wrote on X: “Speaker Johnson: Maybe it’s easier pass the gavel to Musk“. Also on the social network, Musk responded to a post that referenced Paul and Greene’s proposal and Democrats’ criticism of its influence, “They’re just angry because for once their attempt to loot taxpayers has failed!“he wrote.
