Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) was criticized after he suggested on Sunday that Elon Musk is the country’s unelected “prime minister” — and not in a bad way.
“It’s kind of interesting,” Gonzales said during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels like as if Elon Musk is our prime minister.”
“I spoke with Elon a couple of times this week,” he continued, as host Margaret Brennan interrupted to note that Musk is “unelected.”
“Well, unelected, but, I mean, he has a voice, and I think a lot of, large part of that voice is a reflection of the voice of the people,” Gonzales added.
Musk on Wednesday effectively tanked a bipartisan spending deal by posting about it incessantly on his social media platform X. President-elect Donald Trump then chimed in to criticize the bill as well, sending GOP lawmakers scrambling to renegotiate and avert a government shutdown.
A pared-back spending bill was passed late Friday and signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday. It did not include a debt limit extension that Trump had demanded. Gonzales voted against the measure.
Musk’s effective pressure campaign led Democrats and other critics to brand him Trump’s “shadow president” or “co-president.” Trump on Sunday reacted to that claim, calling it a “hoax” and saying: “No, that’s not happening.”
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO, who is the richest person in the world, donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump.
Last week, Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said she’d overheard some Republican colleagues privately “fuming” about Musk “inserting himself” into discussions about government spending. “He’s been elected to nothing,” she said.
Critics took issue with Gonzales’ “prime minister” assertion and said the right-wing billionaire does not represent them.
Gonzales’ office did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
See some of the reaction to the congressman’s remarks below.
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