Trump-loyal Republicans should simply suck it up and unite behind House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) told MSNBC's Ali Velshi — because there's no other option for them.
Johnson's speakership, which was first established after weeks of chaos last year precipitated by the abrupt ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), now appears to be on the ropes as some lawmakers either refuse to back him or won't commit to doing so. President-elect Donald Trump, whose certification could be delayed by a messy speakership fight, threw him an endorsement on Monday, but tech billionaire Elon Musk, who also holds some sway over the caucus, sent much more mixed signals.
"Who's calling the shots?" asked Velshi. "What do you make of what's going on with Elon Musk and his role in what's actually supposed to be happening in Congress?"
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"Part of it is the asymmetry of money and politics, and we can't overlook that part of the story," said Jolly, who left the GOP over his opposition to Trump. "If Elon Musk wasn't a billionaire, his voice wouldn't matter so much to Republicans, who hold seats that are basically commodities of the rich and famous, and the pocketed industry. Part of it also is the social media influence and platform, but it's is all a perversion of democracy and republican form, with a small R, form of representation."
"I think the interesting thing is where it dovetails with just raw ignorance for policymaking," Jolly continued. "Often when Elon Musk goes about policy, he's actually wrong about most of it, and the scary part is most members of Congress don't realize he's actually wrong. They just say, 'Yes, let's go in that direction.' Mike Johnson, I think he's a smart guy who knows that Donald Trump is often wrong and Elon Musk is often wrong, so he's in this place where he has to navigate the caucus of Trump/Musk followers while also actually doing the business of government ... with [Democratic leader] Hakeem Jeffries and others."
For all those reasons, he concluded, "this is an impossible speakership for anybody and ... Republicans would be smart to just kind of take the hits on Friday, elect their speaker if it's Mike Johnson and move on," because "there is no winning pulling Mike Johnson for the speakership at this point."
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