Musk blasts Trump mega-bill, days after White House farewell

LeMonde

3 days ago

Tensions between allies Elon Musk and Donald Trump erupted Tuesday, June 3, as the world's richest man derided the president's key piece of economic legislation in a startling rupture just days after exiting a controversial job in the White House. Musk was lauded by the Republican leader as he left his advisory role atop Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency" last week, despite criticism over his failure to deliver on promises of a transformative program of spending cuts.
"This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination," Musk posted on X as he followed its progress from the sidelines, in by far his most caustic remarks on Trump's agenda. "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong."
It was not Musk's first comments on Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill," which is set to add $3 trillion to US deficits over a 10-year horizon, despite deep cuts to health and food aid programs. But Musk's previous criticism was more restrained, with the Tesla and SpaceX magnate offering only that it undermined his cost-cutting efforts. On Tuesday, he said the bill, being considered by Congress, would burden "citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt."
His post laid bare an increasingly tense relationship between the White House and Musk, who donated almost $300 million to Trump's 2024 election campaign. Yet the normally pugilistic Republican has pulled his punches, aware of his biggest backer's enormous influence over young, tech-savvy and historically apathetic voters – a key Trump constituency in 2024.
"The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill, it doesn't change his opinion," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a rapid response to Musk's tweet. "This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it."
The spat came with House Republicans gearing up to pass legislation due from the White House later Tuesday that proposes to enshrine into law $9.4 billion of DOGE's cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson called Musk's comments "disappointing," adding that he had talked his "good friend" through the bill during a 20-minute phone call on Monday, and that he "seemed to understand."
'Incredible service'
As the world's richest person bowed out of his role as Trump's cost-cutter-in-chief, their relationship appeared on an even keel as the Republican hailed his fellow billionaire's "incredible service."
Trump even insisted that Musk was "really not leaving" after a turbulent four months in which the South African-born tycoon cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies and slashed foreign aid.
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DOGE – announced after Musk became a regular fixture on the campaign trail for Trump – led an ideologically driven rampage through the federal government, with its young "tech bros" slashing tens of thousands of jobs. But its achievements fell far short of Musk's original boast that he could save $2 trillion, more than the government's entire discretionary spending budget for 2024.
The DOGE website claims to have saved taxpayers less than a tenth of that total, just $175 billion, and fact-checkers even see that claim as dubious, given previous serious inaccuracies in its accounting.
Senate Democrats released a report Tuesday itemizing 130 examples of "unethical or potentially corrupt" administration actions they say have helped Musk add $100 billion to his wealth during his tenure. The report came as senators began what is expected to be a fraught month of negotiations on Trump's mammoth policy package, expected to add between $2.5 trillion and $3.1 trillion to deficits over a decade.
The White House says the legislation will spur robust economic growth to neutralize its potential to blow up America's already burgeoning debt pile, which has ballooned to $36.9 trillion. Trump said on Monday it was "the single biggest Spending Cut in History," although he added: "The only 'cutting' we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse."