'Unelected Oligarch,' or the Next House Speaker?

Elon Musk had a big hand in Republicans rejecting a spending bill that would've prevented a government shutdown. And Sen. Rand Paul wants the billionaire Trump ally, tapped to head a department of government efficiency in the incoming administration, to play a much bigger role going forward—as House speaker. "The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress. Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk," Paul wrote on Musk's X platform on Thursday, amassing 2.5 million views in a few hours and setting off a noisy debate.

• House Republicans' rejection of the spending package that the current speaker, Mike Johnson, helped negotiate certainly has some questioning whether Johnson has the support to be reelected speaker on Jan. 3, per the Washington Post.

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said no Democrats will vote for Johnson, meaning he "can afford to lose the vote of only one Republican and keep the gavel," per the Post. And GOP Rep. Thomas Massie said Wednesday that it would take a "Christmas miracle" for Johnson to get his vote.
• But Trump hasn't pulled his support from Johnson yet. On Thursday, he told Fox News that Johnson "will easily remain speaker" if he "acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats." The president-elect has asked for a pared-back bill with a debt-limit increase.
• Even if Johnson loses Trump's support, Musk remains a long, long shot for speaker. While it's true the Constitution makes no mention of the speaker having to be a member of the House, "they always have been," per Axios.

• Still, lawmakers can't deny "Musk's ability to shake up Washington," per the Wall Street Journal. On Wednesday, he told his 200 million X followers to "stop the steal of your tax dollars" by urging their representatives to vote against the bill. In doing so, he put forth some false claims about it, according to Politico, which rounds them up.
• "Our constituents, the people who elected us, are listening to Elon Musk," said GOP Rep. Andy Barr, per the Journal, noting his phone was "ringing off the hook." Meanwhile, former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger claimed "Vice President Trump" was playing second fiddle to "President Musk."
• As for Democrats, Rep. Dan Goldman said Musk was "an unelected oligarch, governing by tweet," per the Hill, while Rep. Rosa DeLauro accused Republicans of caving "to the demands of an unelected, uninformed multibillionaire," per the Post.
• A CNN analysis says Musk was "largely responsible" for the sabotaging of the bill, which "triggered shock and confusion on Capitol Hill." But for many of Trump's supporters, "the mayhem is the point." Paul may have been leaning into that. As he noted in his post, one perk of having Musk as speaker would be "the joy at seeing the collective establishment ... lose their ever-lovin' minds."

(More Elon Musk stories.)