Mike Johnson Asked Elon Musk If He Wants to Be Speaker of the House

WHAT’S NEW

House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed Friday evening that he spoke with Elon Musk as the Senate debated the spending bill that the House passed just hours before the deadline to stop a government shutdown.

Newsweek reached out to Johnson’s office by email on Saturday morning for comment.

WHAT TO KNOW

Johnson spoke with reporters at around 6:15 p.m. ET after the House passed the provisional bill and kicked it over to the Senate to review. However, he couldn’t dodge questions about Musk, who made headlines this week as he appeared to take charge in opposing and approving various drafts and bills.

“Elon Musk and I talked about an hour ago,” Johnson said. “We talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job. I said, ‘Hey, you wanna be Speaker of the House? I don’t know.’ He said this may be the hardest job in the world. I think it is.”

“But, we’re going to get through this, we’re going to unify this country, and we’re going to bring the America First agenda to the people beginning in January. We cannot wait to get started,” he added.

WHY IT MATTERS

Johnson had a bipartisan bill agreed upon and put before the House earlier this week, but Musk heavily criticized the proposed text and insisted that it should not be passed. He also posted a picture on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing the proposed 1,500-page bill and wrote “that’s a lot of pork.”

Musk also insisted that the initial bill “should not pass” and that it was a “criminal” piece of legislation.

Musk’s criticism spurred heavy opposition to the proposed bill among Republicans, and Johnson scrapped the bill. A second proposed bill failed to gain support among Democrats, which led to much fingerpointing and accusations between Democrats and Republicans as the deadline to avoid a shutdown quickly approached.

Lawmakers then turned on Johnson, saying he had fallen short when it mattered most and questioned if he was up to the task of serving as speaker as the second Trump administration gets under way.

Trump advisor Steve Bannon at a conference in Arizona on Thursday said that Johnson “is not up to the task” and “doesn’t have the right stuff … that combination of guts and moxy and savvy and toughness.”

Some suggested Musk, due to his high-profile involvement and seeming influence over the Republican party, could take the role of House Speaker instead. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene both backed Musk on X for the role.

The whole episode adds to the picture that has formed over the past week that places Musk as more central to the structures of Republican power.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland on Thursday addressed the House Speaker controversy, asking reporters: “So who is our leader Hakeem Jeffries supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the Speaker of the House, or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk? Or is it somebody else?”

Nick Sortor, an independent journalist who regularly appears on right-wing news outlets and podcasts, on Friday wrote on X: “SPEAKER JOHNSON HAS CAVED. Per Rep Thomas Massie, Mike Johnson scrapped the plan to introduce single subject spending bills, and will instead go back to one big spending boondoggle. This was ALL a move to please the Democrats. WE NEED A NEW SPEAKER!”

Kevin Sorbo, an actor and outspoken Trump supporter, also wrote on X this week: “Anybody else want Speaker Mike Johnson OUT?”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

With the Senate approving a stopgap measure, a shutdown has been averted and the deadline to decide on a broader spending package pushed back to March 14.

However, it is too soon to see what effect this episode has had on Johnson’s future, as speculation swirls about who could replace him – from unorthodox choices such as Musk or his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) partner Vivek Ramaswamy to more conventional choices such as the current House whip.