Elon Musk holds no public office. He has never stood for election, passed scrutiny for appointment to public office, nor commanded a political force of any measure. He is, however, the latest star and favorite of Donald Trump, the US president-elect. So when Musk issues one of his off-the-cuff missives via his decrepit social network, X, Trump loyalists (almost all the Republicans) take him seriously.
Yet now, suddenly, Musk has the power to shut down the government of the most powerful nation in the history of the world and depose his party’s legislative leader, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, a Republican lawmaker from Louisiana.
