Wouldn't That Be A Kick In The Pants!

Did You know that the Speaker of the House doesn't have to be a member of the House!

US Speaker of the House Doesn't Have To Be a Member of Congress
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., suggested electing billionaire Elon Musk as Speaker of the House.
Snopes

By Grace Deng
Dec. 19, 2024

 Claim:
The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is not required to be a member of Congress.
Rating: True

Context:
The U.S. Constitution does not stipulate that the speaker of the House must be a member of the body, though traditionally a sitting member has always held that position.

In a Dec. 19, 2024 X post (archived), U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, claimed the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives doesn't need to be a member of Congress and floated the idea of putting billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has never held elected office, in the role.

Wouldn't that set off a firestorm! Fox News writes...

The chaotic collapse of the continuing resolution spending bill is putting House Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., leadership under the spotlight and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has floated the idea of replacing him with Elon Musk, President-elect Trump's pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Paul took to Musk’s X on Thursday morning to pitch the idea of the tech billionaire taking the House speaker’s gavel, noting that the speaker does not need to be a sitting 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.

Meanwhile MSNBC writes...

This repeated pattern highlights a fundamental imbalance in Congress: Democrats prioritize governance, while Republicans prioritize posturing. It’s a cycle that has allowed Republicans to act irresponsibly without facing the full consequences of their actions.

Republicans’ dysfunction is no accident. The party has spent years transforming itself into a vehicle for billionaires and culture warriors, prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy and performative outrage over serious governance.

Enter Musk, a billionaire who personifies the GOP’s current priorities. Musk is not just a tech entrepreneur; he’s a chaos agent who specializes in disruption, whether it’s upending industries, tanking his own companies’ stock prices or promoting conspiracy theories on his social media platform.

Not only Democrats are enraged but also Republicans

Steve Bannon Joins War Against Elon Musk as MAGA Implodes
Donald Trump’s biggest fans are at each other’s throats over immigration, and H-1B visas in particular.

The New Republic

By Hafiz Rashid/
December 27, 2024

 

 

 Steve Bannon has joined the MAGA war between hard-line immigration opponents and tech executives like Elon Musk, taking the side of xenophobia on his War Room show Friday.

“H-1B visas? That’s not what it’s about. It’s about taking American jobs and bringing over essentially what have become indentured servants at lower wages,” the former Trump adviser turned pundit said, referring to the visa program that allows immigrants in specialized fields to work in the United States temporarily.

Up on the Cape almost all the summer jobs are H-1B, why? Because they cannot get teenager to work over the summer!

Many on the right disagreed vehemently, particularly racists like Laura Loomer, who spent most of Thursday on her X account attacking Musk and tech executives who share his views. Musk then retaliated against Loomer and his other MAGA friends turned critics that evening, allegedly censoring them on the platform by removing their verification badges and hurting their engagement. 

It is a three ring cirrus!