The U.S. is heading toward one-man rule, but not by who you assume.
It’s becoming clear the White House will be a “Weekend at Bernie’s” affair, whereby staffers prop up a physically and mentally defunct Trump, but Elon Musk wields power behind on the throne.
Musk isn’t constitutionally eligible to be president (he’s a foreigner), and isn’t elected, but this is America everything is for sale, and Musk’s $250 million campaign investment in Trump’s campaign bought him the prerogative to run the country.
Meanwhile in Congress, some Republicans are mad at Speaker “MAGA Mike” Johnson for negotiating a stopgap spending bill with Democrats, who still control the Senate and White House (see story here). It appears Johnson is a goner.
So today, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested replacing “MAGA Mike” with Elon Musk (see story here). It’s hard to know how serious Paul is, because he says lots of crazy things, but the Constitution doesn’t require the House speaker to be a member of Congress, a natural-born citizen, or over the age of five.
Thus, while a South African-born toddler can only be de facto president, he can be de jure speaker. All he needs to get both jobs is more money than God has, which Musk has. The only question is whether he can run the White House and Congress at the same time.
This would constitute a breakdown of separation of powers, but Republicans don’t care about that anyway. They don’t care about the Constitution, period, and are already talking about a Trump third term (see story here). But this is likely an academic discussion, because it’s doubtful whether the empty physical husk that was once Donald Trump will still be around then.
And in any case, even if you’re a stickler about constitutional limits, this is only Elon Musk’s first term, so there’s little question that Musk can buy the crown for another four years if he wants to.
We’re getting an early glimpse of what he plans to do with the presidency: No more Social Security or Medicare, certainly no Obamacare, no unemployment or bank deposit insurance, no food stamps or farm aid, no Dr. Fauci or vaccines for the coming wave of bird flu, and by inference, no population.
America will be a lonely place with all the Americans gone, killed by bird flu or starvation. Maybe King Musk will invite the Chinese to move in.