U.S. Senator Rand Paul, representing Kentucky, has thrown his support behind tech billionaire Elon Musk as the next Speaker of the House.
In a statement shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday, December 19, Senator Paul highlighted that the Speaker of the House does not have to be a sitting member of Congress.
“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Paul wrote. “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).”
Paul’s endorsement comes at a time when current Speaker Mike Johnson is under fire from fellow Republicans over his handling of a critical end-of-year spending deal.
On Tuesday, Speaker Johnson backed a measure crafted by Democrats that proposed funding the government through March 14.
The bill included over $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, health care reforms, and measures for increased transparency in live event ticketing.
However, the plan faced sharp criticism from prominent GOP figures, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, who jointly condemned it on Wednesday.
Calling it “the most foolish and inept thing” ever done by Republicans, they argued it would lead to hitting the debt ceiling in 2025.
Elon Musk, who is set to co-lead Trump’s incoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also criticized the bill.
In a post on X, Musk called the proposed spending “outrageous” and urged voters to hold lawmakers accountable.
“Any lawmaker who supports this bill should be voted out in 2 years,” Musk declared, adding in another post, “This bill should not pass.”
The backlash has reportedly prompted Speaker Johnson’s team to draft an alternative spending plan aimed at appeasing Trump’s MAGA base ahead of Friday’s deadline to avoid a government shutdown.
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the just-concluded election in Rivers State, Patrick Tonye-Cole has accused the Read more
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, on Saturday bemoaned the recent call and agitations for interim government in Read more
Africa Check has fact-checked a viral Facebook post claiming that a Russian boy has hacked the website of the Independent Read more
Following the claim by the Department of State Service, DSS, that there is a plot to install an interim government Read more
