Trump And Musk Agree: McCarthy For House Speaker — But Where Does Congress Stand?

The 118th Congress began on Jan. 3, 2023. Despite Republicans having majority control of the House of Representatives, they have so far failed to agree on who should be the next speaker of the House.

But at least two outspoken public figures are on the same page: Twitter CEO Elon Musk and former U.S. President Donald Trump.
What Happened: While the next voting session for speaker of the House will begin on Thursday, Jan. 5, at noon, Trump has shown support for McCarthy to get the key Congressional post for the Republican party.

See Also: Trump & Musk - Could Their Relationship Shape U.S. Politics? Here's How They've Gotten Along So Far

“Kevin McCarthy will do a great job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB,” Trump wrote on social media platform Truth Social.

Trump encouraged members of the Republican party to vote for McCarthy and not to “turn a great triumph into a giant & embarrassing defeat.”

Trump supported McCarthy in November 2022 for the Speaker of the House nomination.

Musk also weighed in early Thursday morning with his opinion on the Speaker of the House: “Kevin McCarthy should be Speaker,” he tweeted.

Musk has become more vocal about his political thoughts over the years, using social media platform Twitter to share his opinions. Musk calls himself a moderate and said he rarely publicly supports political candidates. Musk admitted to voting Republican for the first time in 2022, when he supported Texas Republican candidate Mayra Flores.

Musk has also publicly supported Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as his preference for President of the United States in the 2024 election. DeSantis is seen as one of the frontrunners for the 2024 election, but has not officially announced his candidacy.

Meanwhile, odds on PredictIt, an odds based outcome site, show the following for the next speaker of the House, with the winning candidate paying out at $1.

• Kevin McCarthy: 49 cents, down 2 cents today
• Steve Scalise: 36 cents, up 5 cents today
• Elise Stefanik: 6 cents, up 1 cent today
• Donald Trump: 4 cents, up 1 cent today
• Jim Jordan: 4 cents, down 1 cent today
• Hakeem Jeffries: 2 cents, no change

See Also: Trump & Musk: Could Their Relationship Shape American Politics? How They've Gotten Along So Far

For the first time in 100 years, the House failed to elect a speaker after the first ballot. McCarthy, who served as the Minority Leader in the 117th Congress, was considered by many as the frontrunner, but failed to get the 218 needed throughout the six rounds of voting.

Republican Byron Donalds of Florida received 20 votes on Wednesday, while Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana has been floated as a potential alternative.

New York representative Hakeem Jeffries maintains unanimous support from the Democratic party with 212 votes.

McCarthy has agreed to several concessions to appeal to the 20 far-right House members in a bid to secure the nomination, according to The Washington Post. Among the changes would be lowering the number of House members required to sponsor a resolution to force a vote on getting rid of the Speaker of the House from five to one.

McCarthy also agreed to having more members of the Freedom Caucus on the House Rules Committee.

The Speaker of the House does not need to be a member of Congress.

The last time it took more than one round of voting for Speaker of the House was 1923 when there were nine votes. In 1856, there were 163 rounds of voting over two months.

Related Link: McCarthy Still Not Secure In House Speaker Position As Congress Vote Moves Forward, What Can This Mean For Biden's Agenda

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