Could Elon Musk Replace Mike Johnson As House Speaker?

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

House Speaker Mike Johnson has received severe backlash for the continuing resolution spending bill and it has raised questions about Johnson’s leadership.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has suggested the idea of replacing Johnson with Elon Musk, who has been chosen by President-elect Trump to co-chair the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On Thursday morning, Paul took to Musk’s platform, X, to propose the tech billionaire for the role of House Speaker. He pointed out that the Speaker position does not require the individual to be a current member of Congress.

“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress… 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),” wrote Paul, a staunchly libertarian conservative on fiscal matters.

Johnson suffered a major blow on Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance spoke out against the funding bill designed to stave off a government shutdown in the new year.

“Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney,” they wrote in a joint statement posted on Truth Social.

“The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas.”

They added: “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”

This statement comes after Musk spent much of Wednesday rallying Republicans against the bill, in a direct challenge to Johnson.

He praised Republican members of Congress who have pledged to vote it down over myriad concerns he has with it.

“‘Shutting down’ the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” Musk wrote in a post on X.