‘Unelected prime minister’: A Republican Congressman suggests Elon Musk’s government role
The notion that an unelected billionaire could buy their way into office is a nightmarish one for any American – except for this Republican Congressmen. He’s into it.
In an interview with CBS, Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales suggested that Elon Musk’s influence in government politics makes him an American “prime minister” of sorts. “It’s kind of interesting” he told shocked host Margaret Brennan in the interview, “we have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels like as if Elon Musk is our prime minister.”
As Gonzales attempted to pivot from the subject, Brennan reminded the congressman that Musk was “unelected.” Gonzales mused on the notion, saying that while Musk isn’t an elected official, he is “the reflection of the voice of the people.”
What people, exactly? Certainly not anyone in government. Through a series of misinformed tweets, Musk was able to effectively tank a painstaking arranged bipartisan spending bill, throwing Congress into complete disarray before the holiday season. Republicans scrambled to redraft the bill, lest Donald Trump make good on his threat to oust them from office for supporting it, while their democratic colleagues mocked that Elon Musk had become the “Shadow President” of the United States. Musk’s meddling turned out to be such a PR nightmare that a spokesperson for Trump had to come out and say that the president-elect remains the “leader of the Republican Party,” a tacit admission of the fact that leadership was called into question. Even Trump himself addressed the “President Musk” rumors, calling them a “hoax.”
According to Tony Gonzales, the fact that an unelected billionaire can upend the power of the legislative and executive branches of the American government by tweeting about them isn’t cause for alarm. In response to his remarks, Gonzales was dogpiled by the internet.
Donald Trump is not gonna like that one.
Like a President, a Prime Minister is an elected official – something that Tony Gonzales evidently fails to grasp, as this user points out.
Elon Musk’s unprecedented level of political influence is not a good thing, and as this user points out, any attempt to paint it as such is a very bad thing. However, it wouldn’t be the first time this particular bad thing has happened. Elon Musk was able to stir millions of his supporters into a frenzy online, similar to the way that right-wing radio show host Rush Limbaugh could stir up his conservative listeners decades before. With The Rush Limbaugh Show and its millions of listeners, Limbaugh himself had an unprecedented level of political sway, and was able to effectively shape Republican policy despite not being an elected official. Limbaugh got so big that President George H.W. Bush once invited him to the White House in an effort to sway him from supporting Bush’s political rival Pat Buchanan during the 1992 Republican primary.
Compared to Limbaugh and Bush’s relationship, Musk and Trump appear to be joined at the hip. Musk has been a frequent guest of President-elect at Mar a Lago, where the billionaire has reportedly been getting on everyone’s nerves. According to sources familiar with the situation, Musk is behaving as “co-president” and “taking lots of credit for the president’s victory.” Trump certainly isn’t going to like that.
If Elon Musk doesn’t stop meddling in government affairs, he may see his political dreams dashed before they come to fruition by his former allies. And if Tony Gonzales keeps supporting Musk, he’ll likely be out the door soon after.
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