Elon Musk torches Donald Trump's signature plan as 'a disgusting abomination'
Just days after Donald Trump held an event to bid him a rosy farewell from the White House, Elon Musk has gone nuclear on the president's 'big beautiful bill'.
Musk blasted Trump's signature budget bill on his X (formerly Twitter) platform on Tuesday afternoon, four days after Trump praised him in an Oval Office press conference.
'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore,' wrote Musk.
'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.'
In another post, Trump's former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) wrote that the bill 'will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt'.
Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act extends tax cuts he brought in 2017 during his first term, and allocates more funding for border security and the military. Those come at the expense of assistance programs like Medicaid and the food-purchasing help program SNAP.
The bill will add roughly $3.8trillion to the federal government's $36.2trillion debt over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Musk replied to an X post stating that he was right, by writing, 'Simple math.'
Trump did not immediately respond to Musk's X post, but on Tuesday morning ripped Republican Senator Rand Paul for opposing the bill.
'Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming,' wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform.
In a subsequent post, Trump wrote that 'Rand votes NO on everything' and that 'his ideas are actually crazy (losers!).'
And on Monday evening, Trump wrote that there are 'so many false statements' about the bill and claimed that 'there will be NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid'.
In reality, the bill proposes cutting federal spending on Medicaid by at least $600billion over a decade and decreasing enrollment by about 10.3million Americans, according to a preliminary estimate from the CBO.
It is not the first time that Musk, who has returned his focus to running his businesses including SpaceX and Tesla, has criticised Trump's bill.
The tech billionaire took a swipe at the domestic policy bill just before his farewell presser.
'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' Musk told CBS News' Sunday Morning.
Trump at the time avoided criticising Musk and instead said that tough politics in the House, which has passed it, resulted in a higher price tag for the bill than he would like.
'I'm not happy about certain aspects of it, but I'm thrilled by other aspects of it,' the president said, adding that his administration will be negotiating it. More Trending
Trump at the event on Friday said, 'Today it's about a man named Elon and he's one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced.'
He added that Musk 'has worked tirelessly' leading DOGE, which calculated more than $160billion in savings for fiscal year 2025 to 2026.
Both the president and Musk himself said that he was not leaving the White House entirely despite his time as a 'special government employee' coming to an end.
But it remains to be seen if Trump, who reportedly had recent disagreements with Musk, will welcome him with the same warmth moving forward.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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The Guardian
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- The Guardian
Trump-Musk meltdown: key moments in the billionaires' spectacular split
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'As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,' the billionaire wrote on X, his social media platform. As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government. In the Oval Office, Trump praised Musk for his service, presenting him with a golden key and lauding the 'colossal change' he brought through Doge – which in four months entered dozens of federal departments, accessed sensitive data and led to the elimination of thousands of jobs, though the ultimate savings were far, far less than Musk had promised. Standing alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Musk, who faced a 130-day limit in his tenure as a special government employee that had ended two days prior, vowed that his departure was 'not the end' of Doge, and that it would 'only strengthen over time'. Musk seemed to release a pent-up frustration on X. He said: 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore', then derided the administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, calling it a 'massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill' that was 'a disgusting abomination'. I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it. Musk doubled down in the early hours, claiming the bill 'more than defeats all the cost savings achieved by the Doge team at great personal cost and risk'. 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Trump's claim that Musk had known what was in the bill was false, Musk said. He wrote that it 'was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it'. False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it! But what appeared to really get under his skin was Trump saying on Thursday he would have won the presidential election without Musk's help or money. Replying to an X user, Musk said: 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.' Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude Less than two hours after the White House event, Musk posted a poll on X, asking: 'Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?' 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'I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy electric Cars that nobody else wanted … and he just went CRAZY!' Trump wrote, then brazenly suggested he would 'terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts'. Musk immediately responded: 'Such an obvious lie. So sad.' Such an obvious lie. So sad. Then he upped the ante. 'Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files,' referring to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 'That is the real reason they have not been made public,' Musk wrote, adding in a separate post: 'Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.' Time to drop the really big bomb:@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made a nice day, DJT! Musk, of course, has himself been pictured with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty of sex-trafficking in 2021. Both men deny any wrongdoing. Ye, an erstwhile ally of both men – who has been dropped by sponsors and fans over his antisemitic outbursts – posts: 'Broooos please noooooo,' adding: 'We love you both so much.' Broooos please noooooo 🫂 We love you both so much Musk had earlier been reposting the House speaker, Mike Johnson, criticising the Joe Biden administration in 2023 for 'an endless cycle of out-of-control deficit spending'. 'Where is the Mike Johnson of 2023!?' Musk asked. Johnson took the bait. 'The Mike Johnson of 2023 is the SAME Mike Johnson who has always been a lifelong fiscal hawk,' he said in a lengthy post. X users were unimpressed and the post wound up with a community note disputing its accuracy. The Mike Johnson of 2023 is the SAME Mike Johnson who has always been a lifelong fiscal hawk - who now serves as Speaker and is implementing a multi-stage plan to get our country back to fiscal responsibility and extraordinary economic growth. It begins with the critically… Gnomically, the US president wrote: 'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago.' Musk then threatened to withhold the spacecraft that Nasa has used to travel to and from the International Space Station – which would leave astronauts dependent on Boeing or Russia to get them home. 'SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' he wrote. As a reminder, Musk is 53. In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately Musk ratcheted things up even further when he amplified a tweet by Gamergater Ian Miles Cheong calling for Trump to be impeached. (If it happened, it would be for a record third time.) Yes Having backed the US president to the hilt during the election campaign, and joined his administration, Musk then declared: 'The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.' The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year With an 'eyebrow raised' emoji, Musk posted a well-known NBC video of Trump with Epstein at a party in 1992, dancing, joking and making comments about women. 🤨 The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, described the feud as 'an unfortunate episode from Elon'. Musk posted a meme referring to the persistent online suggestions that he uses ketamine and to his associating Trump with Epstein. In 2024, Musk said he uses the drug on prescription for medical reasons. 😂🎯 … but then shortly before 7am a reporter asked Trump about the supposed phone call he was going to have with Musk later in the day. 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Trump asked. Here we go again …
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Who gets the cybertruck? Both MAGA World and liberals have turned on Musk's Tesla as Trump divorce turns friends to foe
Elon Musk now finds himself out in the cold as both MAGA and liberals have turned on him and his businesses following the dramatic divorce of the billionaire and President Donald Trump. MAGA faithful and liberals alike were celebrating Thursday night after the president and the world's richest man traded barbs publicly, and their relationship came to a bitter end after almost a year. Musk now finds himself a pariah of both the GOP and liberals following the fallout. Liberals turned against him and Tesla after he joined the Trump campaign and then the administration, where he spearheaded ruthless cuts at federal agencies with the Department of Government Efficiency, while MAGA has sided with their party's leader. 'Nobody elected Elon Musk, and a whole lot of people don't even like him, to be honest with you, even on both sides,' said Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. At Butterworth's, a French restaurant on Capitol Hill that has become a popular MAGA haunt during Trump's second term, celebrations were in full swing. 'We're popping bottles tonight,' Raheem Kassam, editor of right-wing news site The National Pulse, told The Washington Post as he tucked into a tin of caviar with a pearl spoon. 'This is a lesson the MAGA right needed to learn right now,' Kassam, an investor in the restaurant, said. He told the outlet that he was 'worried for a time that MAGA would be bought out' by oligarchs and referred to the Republican megadonor Koch brothers. 'It's just so satisfying to see that that is now no longer the case.' He also slammed officials working at Musk's DOGE who he claimed 'don't know how to work in this town.' While having a cigarette break outside, Kassam looked at a Cybertruck parked on the street nearby. 'And so as I stare at his Cybertruck,' he told The Post, '[Musk's] greenness has finally come back to bite him. … And good riddance.' Butterworth's chef Bart Hutchins also weighed in. 'Elon Musk is an insufferable nerd, and I hope this marks the end of his engagement with public life,' he said. Congressional Republicans are also not holding back on their public attacks of Musk to show their solidarity with Trump. 'This is absolutely childish and ridiculous. Enough of this nonsense,' Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina told Axios. Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania told the outlet that Musk is 'starting to look a little crazy.' He added that Musk 'was always an important voice, but ... it's going to be a lot more people weighing what Trump has to say than what Musk has to say.' It's a victory for liberals who have been demonstrating against Musk since he entered politics. At the peak of the DOGE cuts in February and March, hundreds mobilized across the U.S. to protest in rallies organized by liberal groups. Protests also called for a boycott of Tesla, as liberals ditched the vehicles. Some took it further by vandalizing Teslas in violent incidents across the country. The Trump administration rallied around Musk and his electric vehicle company at the time, with the president turning the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom to promote the cars. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also encouraged people to buy Tesla stock in March amid the backlash. He said that Musk was 'probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America.' Tesla yesterday saw its stock plummet nearly 16 percent. By Friday morning, stock was on the rebound after it was reported that Trump and Musk would speak on the phone today. Trump has since commented that he is 'not particularly interested' in speaking with the former 'first buddy.'
