Republicans privately vent about Musk as they downplay his influence on Trump's agenda bill

Yahoo

a day ago

When Elon Musk declared Tuesday that President Donald Trump's signature legislation was a 'disgusting abomination,' it caught the West Wing by surprise and sent Republican leaders in Congress scrambling, unsuccessfully, to get Musk on the phone.
A day later, both GOP leaders and White House officials are downplaying the actual impact of the tech billionaire's outburst, even as some vent frustration with Musk behind the scenes. White House officials, while annoyed by the matter, said they ultimately did not believe the comments would impact how senators vote on Trump's prized bill. Two administration officials even went as far as suggesting Musk's opposition could actually help Trump's measure, given how toxic the Tesla CEO has become over the course of his time in Trump's orbit.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune both evinced no worry whatsoever that it would change Republicans' minds or sink the massive border, tax and spending cuts package. While several GOP senators had been expressing doubts about the bill for weeks, none cited new concerns over Musk's comments. Republican leaders remain bullish that they can deliver the legislation to Trump's desk by July 4 – an ambitious timeline.
Whatever happens, one thing did seem clear: While Trump and Musk's alliance is not broken, the two are slowly growing apart as their interests diverge and their relationship becomes more distant. People close to the president view the situation as something of an inevitability: they braced for potential conflicts once Musk no longer enjoyed close proximity with Trump – and the outsized power that goes along with it.
The one-time government employee's recent claims that he would be less involved in politics, coupled with his departure from the White House last week, almost instantly shifted some of the influence he had held for the past several months.
Musk continued blasting the bill Wednesday on his social media platform X, pinning to the top of his profile a post from another user that said commentators on Fox News are almost all 'in agreement with Elon—to see so many vehemently disagreeing with Trump is wild.'
Musk also on Wednesday called on Congress to draft a 'new spending bill' that wouldn't 'massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS.'
Trump was unhappy and somewhat confused on Tuesday after Musk's initial missive, according to two sources who spoke with him, but opted to not publicly address the criticism, hoping to avoid fueling a storyline that he is feuding with his onetime shadow. One of the sources noted Trump had speculated that Musk's pushback must be related to how the bill might impact the billionaire's business ventures, including the repealing of electric vehicle subsidies.
Still, the timing of his criticism irritated the White House and Senate Republican leaders, aides said, because it threatened to further complicate efforts to unite a fractious congressional coalition.
Trump was 'not delighted that Elon did a 180 on that,' Johnson said Wednesday after a conversation with the president about Musk's renewed criticism.
One fear among Trump advisers was that Musk's comments could provide ammunition to Republican senators who already oppose the bill, like Rand Paul, and amplify their concerns.
Even if no senators withdraw their support for Trump's big policy bill in the wake of Musk's blistering assessment of its price tag, a half-dozen GOP strategists and advisers complained to CNN that it added another layer of criticism to the bill and provided another opening to critics.
'The bill was fragile enough before Elon starting weighing in,' a senior Republican Senate official told CNN. 'Unhelpful doesn't begin to describe this.'
Musk's comments appeared to embolden some of the bill's critics in the House, which passed the legislation last month on a narrow margin. If the Senate makes any changes to the legislation, which is likely, it will have to go back through the House.
Arizona Rep. Eli Crane, a conservative Republican who criticized the legislation for not cutting enough spending, said he was 'frustrated' with Musk for not voicing his disapproval sooner.
'Those of us that were actually trying to make cuts, we could have used his support,' Crane said Wednesday. 'That's what frustrates me – hey, if you're going to be in this fight, be in this fight when we need you.'
Some White House officials and several top Republicans sought to blame Musk's criticism simply on the legislation's planned repeal of certain electric vehicle subsidies – and the impact it would have on his own struggling company, Tesla.
But one Republican strategist who has worked closely with the tech billionaire downplayed that, telling CNN that Musk was genuinely troubled by projections of how much the bill would add to the deficit – the reasoning Musk has publicly cited on multiple occasions. Other people who know Musk agreed that his opposition to the bill is not just about the electric vehicle credits or solar energy subsidies, noting he sees the bill as a 'slap in the face' to what he was trying to accomplish with the Department of Government Efficiency.
'Elon is big mission, not small mission, and EV credits are small mission,' said one person who speaks to Musk. 'He fully believes it's a bad deal. All this work on DOGE [would be] a waste of effort.'
Despite the consternation, some White House officials and people close to Musk doubted the dust up would have much effect on Musk's complicated relationship with the president long term.
Trump does not view Musk – a fellow billionaire and the head of several companies – as an ordinary underling, people familiar with their dynamic said. Instead, he regards Musk as essentially a Democrat who came to love Trump and helped get him elected, despite policy differences.
While Trump was not eager to pour fuel on the fire after Musk's comments Tuesday, one administration official said he expected the president to fire back if Musk kept up his criticism. If Musk were to start individually lobbying senators, that could also change the White House posture, one official told CNN.
So far, Musk has avoided criticizing the president directly. Mostly, his ire has been directed toward members of Congress, despite Trump personally championing and lobbying for the bill.
But many weren't sure how seriously to take a threat in one of Musk's Tuesday posts: 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.'
The world's richest man has made clear he intends to play far less of a role in the 2026 midterm elections than he did in the 2024 presidential race, when he spent $275 million to help Trump win. The strategist who works closely with Musk said a decision has not been made about whether he will follow through on his threat of trying to unseat Republicans who supported the bill.
How effective Musk will be in changing minds remains an open question, as Republicans weigh that warning. Johnson, who spoke to Musk on Monday ahead of his critical messages, said the two spoke about the midterm elections and Musk said he would help Republicans keep the House majority. The speaker said that conversation ended 'on a great note.'
When Johnson tried to call Musk on Tuesday evening, he didn't pick up.
Still, Johnson insisted there were no hard feelings.
'Policy differences are not personal,' he said. 'I think he's flat wrong. I think he's way off on this.'
Thune similarly predicted the Senate would pass the bill, despite Musk's opposition. While Thune acknowledged Musk has influence, he said Republicans understand defeat of the bill is not acceptable.
'He has some influence. He's got a big following in social media. But at the end of the day, this is a 51-vote exercise here in the Senate,' he said. 'The question for our members is going to be: Would you prefer the alternative? And the alternative isn't a good one.'
Alayna Treene, Manu Raju and David Wright contributed to this report.