since Elon Musk extended his
1 million Powerwalls.
While sales of Tesla cars have suffered greatly arm and wallet to politics globally, his Starlink and Tesla Energy products have continued to do well. There's lots of EV competition, but zero alternatives for cheap and fast consumer internet that can be quickly deployed in data dead zones, or whole home battery backup systems with a proven track record and terrific user experience. Although the competitors are quickly gearing up to address the latter.
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How Musk turned on Trump's tax ‘abomination'
In the world of Elon Musk, five days is a very long time. Last Friday, Donald Trump described Musk as a 'very special' friend as he stepped down from his role as cost-cutting tsar, bidding farewell by presenting the Tesla chief with a golden key to the White House. After accepting the gift, Musk told reporters in the Oval Office that he would make good use of it. 'I'll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and adviser to the president,' he said. Just a few days later, it appears the billionaire's punchy advice may already be pushing this friendship to breaking point. Late on Tuesday, Musk escalated his criticism of Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill', attacking the US president's package of tax cuts over fears it could add trillions to the national deficit. 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore,' he told his 220m followers on his social media site X. 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Congress is making America bankrupt.' More ominously, he took aim at the 215 Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted for the Bill. 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' he said. He didn't stop there. Two hours later, he warned of reprisals at the crucial Congressional midterm elections in 2026. 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.' These are words that could send a chill through Republican Party politicians, including the president himself. Last year, Musk pumped almost $300m (£220m) into Trump's election campaign, providing the financial firepower required to restore him to the White House. And while the Tesla chief has recently exited his role in the Trump administration and vowed to cut his political spending, Musk still looms large over US politics. Unsurprisingly, the White House has so far played down Musk's criticism. 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'If we don't get serious about reining in the debt, the next generation will pay the price. Fiscal responsibility isn't a campaign slogan. It's a duty which I take very seriously.' For Musk, this isn't just a matter of policy. It's personal. The Bill's fiscal profligacy flies directly in the face of the mission that brought him into politics as a chainsaw-wielding Maga maverick: cutting government spending. His department of government efficiency, or Doge, has been on a move-fast-and-break-things campaign to reduce the size of the state. At the White House ceremony to receive his golden key, he wore a T-shirt with the iconography of The Godfather film reworked as 'the Dogefather'. He compared Doge to Buddhism, describing it as 'like a way of life'. He is yet to reach fiscal nirvana, though, having fallen well short of initial ambitions to cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget during his allotted 130 days as a government agent. By the start of June, his 'wall of receipts' was showing savings of $180bn, although several independent efforts to verify Doge's claims have struggled to make the sums add up. 'Maybe why Elon Musk is a bit worked up about this is that he thought he had a mandate to cut spending, and that didn't really happen very much with Doge,' says John Stopford, of fund manager Ninety One. Musk has publicly vented frustration at what he sees as obstructionism from Trump lieutenants and Republican members of Congress keen to protect spending that benefits their districts. Now Trump is in his sights, too. Musk told CBS over the weekend that the tax-cut Bill 'undermines the work that the Doge team is doing'. Musk isn't alone in questioning whether Trump's signature legislation is as beautiful as it is big. Yields on longer-dated US Treasury bonds, which finance the government's deficit, are at or near their highest in decades. 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'If there was a big deleveraging that happened and there was a big source of selling, whether it's from foreign investors or hedge funds or levered investors or basis investors, it could potentially overwhelm the system,' he says. Ninety One's Stopford agrees. 'There is a risk that you reach a tipping point at some point,' he says. However, beyond the economy, it's possible that if anyone has reached a tipping point, it's Musk himself. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
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an hour ago
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Musk melts down over budget bill; Republicans in turmoil over their own bill
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
South Korea's Hanwha to offload Eutelsat stake, filing shows
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