Elon Musk Makes His Stance Known on Who Should Be Speaker - Both Sides Won't Be Happy
As the standoff over who will become the next speaker of the House continued into its third day, Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk made his position clear.
In an early Thursday morning tweet, Musk expressed his support for Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.
In a second post, he said, “Subtle, but I am beginning to suspect opinions differ on this matter …
“If not McCarthy, then seriously who?”
Kevin McCarthy should be Speaker
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 5, 2023
Subtle, but I am beginning to suspect opinions differ on this matter …
If not McCarthy, then seriously who?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 5, 2023
Musk’s choice of McCarthy puts him at odds with anti-McCarthy Republicans as well as Democrats in the House.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this is that Musk is in agreement with former President Donald Trump, with both supporting the GOP establishment’s candidate.
Love him or hate him, McCarthy has made many concessions to the group of 20 Republican rebels in an effort to win their support.
Musk is right to ask, “If not McCarthy, then seriously who?”
On the sixth ballot, McCarthy won 201 Republican votes (down from 203 in earlier ballots) and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida garnered 20 votes during the fourth, fifth and sixth ballot rounds. It seems like it would be much easier to get McCarthy to 218 than Donalds.
Over the past couple of days, we’ve heard repeatedly from pundits and politicians that democracy is messy and we must let the process play out. But democracy is also based on majority rule. McCarthy has garnered the support of over 90 percent of GOP members, and Donalds has the backing of just 10 percent. His share of the votes did not increase in the three ballots since he was nominated.
Ahead of the seventh ballot, McCarthy hoped the additional concessions made overnight to the 20 Republicans opposed to his speakership would be enough to provide him with the 218 votes he needs to win.
McCarthy was nominated by Rep.-elect John James of Michigan, who called for unity among the Republican members.
According to CNN, James told his colleagues that the “issues that divide us today are much less severe that they were in 1856. In fact, there’s far more that unite[s] us, than divide[s] us, regardless of our political party of ideology.”
“The issues today are over a few rules and personalities, while the issues at that time were about slavery and whether the value of a man who looks like me was 60 percent or 100 percent of a human being,” said the congressman, who is black.
But McCarthy fell short in the seventh and eighth ballots.
House Republicans need to get it together soon. If they can’t unite on a speaker, how will they unite around issues and initiatives once the legislative session begins?
Politics is about compromise. McCarthy has shown he is willing to make concessions. The minority has not.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Kevin McCarthy, but at this point, there is no other rational choice.
Musk is right. McCarthy should be speaker.
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