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Rand Paul floats Elon Musk for House Speaker (ghostarchive.org)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

45 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (3 children)

The speaker is an elected representative though

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They are elected in the sense that the House representatives vote on confirming a nomination, but there is nothing to stipulate the nominee has to be a representative. That has just been the precedent so far.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

The US Speaker of the House is as democratically elected as any Prime Minister.

but there is nothing to stipulate the nominee has to be a representative. That has just been the precedent so far.

The same is true for the British PM and I would guess many other PMs.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I thought so too, but no. It seems that way because the House traditionally chooses an elected rep to serve in the role, but you don't actually need to be a member of the House to be Speaker, the House can choose whoever they want to serve in that role

The Speaker is the only House officer who traditionally has been chosen from the sitting membership of the House. Manual Sec. 26. The Constitution does not limit his selection [the Speaker] from among that class, but the practice has been followed invariably. The Speaker's term of office thus expires at the end of his term of office as a Member, whereas the other House officers continue in office ``until their successors are chosen and qualified.'

They almost definitely won't do this for Musk, but they could

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

not in this scenario