Trump is brushing off Musk's megabill attacks — for now

Politico

04-06-2025

President Donald Trump is frustrated with Elon Musk for slamming the administration's chief legislative priority, but isn't taking it personally — a distinction that's helped keep a lid on the White House's response so far.
Yet as Musk's attacks stretch into their second day, administration officials are wondering how long the peace will hold, according to two White House aides and two outside advisers to the president granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking.
'In Trumpworld, we know that the sign things are going south fast is the president getting personal, even if it's just a half-sentence on Truth,' said one of the advisers. 'He's the one who decides.'
Musk's ambush of the GOP's megabill via social media represents perhaps the stiffest test yet of a Trump-Musk relationship that has survived far longer than many in the president's orbit anticipated, even if it now appears to be ending the way most of them predicted.
The Tesla CEO called the centerpiece of Trump's agenda a 'disgusting abomination' just days after a buddy-buddy press conference in the Oval Office during which Trump presented him with a golden key.
And while it has irritated Trump aides who are trying to maintain fragile support for the legislation in the Senate, Musk's targeting of the bill and not the president himself has helped keep things relatively civil, according to the two administration officials and one of the advisers.
Trump has kept silent on the matter despite Musk's continued broadsides on X. Within the West Wing, his aides dismissed Musk's complaints about the bill's size and deficit spending, arguing instead that Musk is upset primarily because it eliminates tax credits that stood to benefit his electric car company Tesla.
The episode did renew quiet discussions over how to counter the sudden offensive from a former ally whose prominence, social media platform and deep pockets have made him massively influential within the Republican Party.
Senior White House aide Stephen Miller, who worked closely with Musk in the administration, has taken the lead in defending the merits of the bill on X, seeking to remind critics in one post that the bill was designed by 'President Trump, his loyal aides, and his closest allies in Congress to deliver fully and enthusiastically on the explicit promises he made the American People.'
Yet Trump has remained circumspect, according to aides and others who have spoken to him, avoiding a high-profile fight even as he ramps up involvement in efforts to change the bill in the Senate. If Trump were to confront Musk, it would most likely happen via Truth Social, said one of the White House officials.
'Elon running his mouth publicly about the bill is not helping the president at all,' the outside adviser said. 'But those two fellows have talked a lot, Trump and Elon, and I think they know each other pretty well.'
The White House has publicly downplayed the rift, emphasizing that Musk is now a private citizen and that he still agrees with Trump on a host of other issues.
'The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 'It doesn't change the president's opinion.'
Musk's broadsides came ahead of a White House meeting on Wednesday between Trump and Senate Republicans, as lawmakers try to enact the megabill within a matter of weeks.
Hill GOP leaders have largely brushed off Musk's intervention, calling the billionaire's critiques misguided and downplaying the impact he might have in moving votes.
Within Trump's orbit, the timing of the criticism has bothered officials more than the substance — giving fodder to hesitant senators like Ron Johnson and Josh Hawley, according to one of the White House officials. But aides and allies largely dismissed the suggestion that Musk might derail the Senate effort, with some saying that after pouring millions of dollars into unsuccessfully influencing the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this year, it's become clear his money doesn't swing votes.
Other Republicans, though, have quietly urged the party's leadership to take more seriously the threat that Musk could fund primary challenges, said the second adviser. Even if the megabill makes it through the Senate, they say, a revised version will need to go back to the House, where Musk's influence and money could become a more immediate problem.
Already, frontline and conservative Republicans are fretting about the potential consequences of getting crosswise with Musk and his near-unlimited financial resources. Should Musk escalate his rhetoric and issue a more explicit primary threat, it could force Republicans into the unenviable position of choosing between the president and his former aide — and raise the stakes for Trump's own decision over how to respond.
'They're stuck between Trump and Musk,' the second adviser said of rank-and-file members. 'I would characterize the level of alarm as reasonably high.'