Republican lawmakers criticized for harsh ‘prime minister’ comments about Elon Musk

Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) came under fire Sunday after suggesting that Elon Musk was the unelected “prime minister” of the United States, and that’s not in a bad way.

“It’s kind of interesting,” Gonzales said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. “It feels like Elon Musk is our prime minister.”

After host Margaret Brennan noted that Musk was “unelected,” he said, “I spoke to Elon a couple of times this week.”

“Even though he is not elected, he has a voice, and much of that voice is a reflection of the voice of the people,” Gonzalez added.

Musk effectively gutted the bipartisan spending deal on Wednesday by posting relentlessly about it on his social media platform X. President-elect Donald Trump came out to criticize the bill, and Republican lawmakers rushed to renegotiate it and avoid a government shutdown.

The scaled-back spending bill was passed late Friday and signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday. It does not include the debt ceiling extension requested by President Trump. Gonzales voted against the bill.

Musk’s effective pressure campaign has led Democrats and other critics to brand him as Trump’s “shadow president” or “co-president.” President Trump responded Sunday to the claim, calling it a “hoax” and saying, “No, that’s not happening.”

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO, the richest person in the world, donated more than $2.5 billion to help get Trump elected.

Last week, Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said she overheard some of her Republican colleagues privately “getting upset” that Musk had “inserted himself” into discussions about government spending. “He wasn’t elected for anything,” she said.

Critics took issue with González’s claim to be a “prime minister” and said the right-wing billionaire did not represent them.

Gonzalez’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Watch the reaction to Rep. Lee’s comments below.