Elon Musk got here out swinging in opposition to President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” on Tuesday, slamming the reconciliation package deal as a “disgusting abomination” in an enormous break from the president simply days after stepping away from his position within the administration.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Musk, who Trump had tapped to guide the federal expense-slashing Division of Authorities Effectivity, went on to criticize the invoice for establishing Congress to “increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!)” and saddle Individuals with “crushingly unsustainable debt.”
His feedback come because the invoice is about to face Senate scrutiny after narrowly passing within the Home final month.
Musk’s bombshell assault on Trump’s prized megabill marks a dam-breaking second for the billionaire presidential adviser, shortly after stepping again from his place helming DOGE final week as the tip of his designated time as a particular authorities worker got here to an in depth.
The Tesla CEO had criticized a number of the president’s insurance policies whereas he was serving in authorities. However the harsh rebuke of laws pushed by Trump — who stated in Could that the invoice was “arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country” — marks essentially the most extreme cut up between the Trump ally and the president.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt disregarded Musk’s criticism, which he posted as she was on the briefing room podium. “The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” she stated. “It doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”
Musk’s social media submit emboldened a number of the reconcilation’s package deal Republican critics. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one in all two Republican defections in opposition to the invoice final month, was fast to spice up Musk’s tirade, writing “He’s right” in a submit on X.
And Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who Trump criticized repeatedly earlier Tuesday for his opposition to the invoice, got here out in help of Musk.
“I agree with Elon,” Paul wrote on X. “We have both seen the massive waste in government spending and we know another $5 trillion in debt is a huge mistake. We can and must do better.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) additionally jumped on the submit, replying to Musk that “The Senate must make this bill better.”
However the message got here as a blow to Home Speaker Mike Johnson, who was instrumental in pushing the invoice via the Home.
Musk “coming out and panning” the GOP megabill is “very disappointing,” Johnson advised reporters on the Capitol, “and very surprising in light of the conversation I had with him.”
Tuesday’s submit wasn’t the primary time Musk expressed disapproval of Republicans’ megabill.
The previous DOGE head took to CBS Information final week to criticize the invoice, saying he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill,” and lamenting that it “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”
Whereas Musk’s position at DOGE essentially reshaped Washington, the shut Trump ally has signaled his frustration with the administration in current weeks, from launching an assault on Trump commerce adviser Peter Navarro on X over the administration’s sweeping tariff coverage — which impacted Musk’s enterprise holdings — to indicating that he had “done enough” in politics after throwing vital funds at an ill-fated Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom race in April.
Musk continued his tirade Tuesday afternoon in opposition to the large stunning invoice and upped the ante in opposition to Republicans in Congress — reposting a tweet questioning why the GOP is spending cash on “luxury hotels in Ukraine” or “not voting on any DOGE cuts.”
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk added on X.
The thinly-veiled risk shortly after blasting those that supported the megabill may change into a monetary albatross for the GOP, after Musk’s America PAC poured tens of millions into Trump’s reelection marketing campaign and downballot races. In Musk’s sequence of posts, he again up Massie — who Trump has brazenly known as to be primaried.
Ali Bianco, Meredith Lee Hill and Ben Johansen contributed to this report.
