Psychosis has edged out sanity in the United States government, which increasingly puts wealth and loyalty over experience or competence.
We’re seeing the Donald Trump effect drown our government in real time, and it’s only been intensified by the involvement of Elon Musk. Now that the Telsa CEO has successfully bought his way into a position in the Trump administration (kind of), Musk can genuinely claim a position as one of the most powerful people in the world. He’s clearly set to be the bloated bigot’s latest puppet master, and he couldn’t be more excited to quadruple his net worth while flushing our rights — and barely-functioning government — down the drain.
That could be magnified if Kentucky Senator Rand Paul gets his way, and just outright gifts Musk the keys to the kingdom. After all, how could that bite us in the behind?
Paul suggested, in mid-December, that we may as well just make Musk the Speaker of the House of Representatives and get it over with. He seems to think that handing a massively wealthy man with vested business interests all over the world a hugely important government position — without electing him — is a great idea, and he’s already drumming up support from similarly sycophantic MAGAs.
“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk,” the 61-year-old wrote on X, adding that “the Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress.”
The decision to hand an unelected, unwanted, and unqualified person such an important position would be truly insane, but in a terrifying gut punch of reality, it’s actually possible. While we’ve never elevated someone outside of Congress to the position, the Constitution does not block regular citizens from becoming Speaker. The document fails to “specify that the Speaker of the House has to be a member of the chamber,” according to Axios, which really could provide the in needed for Musk to seize the role.
This isn’t the first time someone has named a non-Congressional figure for the role, but we live in unprecedented times. Things no one thought possible happen every day in this country, and there’s no reason to doubt that Paul — and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who soon swooped in to offer her support — aren’t entirely serious about injecting Musk into the House. It would be an insane decision, of course, and it would once again circumvent the will of the people, but that’s not nearly enough to stop these airheads from pursuing it.
The power Trump is about to hand to the wealthiest man in the world should scare us all. There’s a reason those with business interests are typically disallowed from certain governmental positions, but that precedent has been tossed out along with the remainder of America’s dignity. Musk’s time in the White House — because make no mistake, he’s already establishing himself as the shadow leader behind Trump — will almost certainly be defined by business deals and strange, underhanded decisions that further his wealth and that of his mega-rich buddies, while ignoring the actual issues plaguing American citizens.