Musk turns on Trump, and GOP spending can't hide behind DOGE
Musk seems frustrated that Republicans used him in their charade to balance the federal budget, frustrated that Trump used him for his own end. But he really should be frustrated that he was so gullible - because he should have seen all of this coming.
Opinion: Musk erupts, claims Trump is in the Epstein files. Who could've seen this coming?
I'm frustrated that this is the only thing receiving attention, considering the amount of work that needs to be done with the budget.
Republicans used Elon Musk as a political smokescreen
Whether Musk genuinely believed himself when he promised to cut $2 trillion (before quickly tempering that estimate) is up for debate. If he did believe it, he was entirely naive about both the current state of the Republican Party and our federal government.
Republicans thought they could use Musk as a political win and distraction, allowing him to claw back government spending through the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, while congressional Republicans authorized massive deficit increases.
Even after accounting for the economic growth that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would stimulate, it's projected to add $2.4 trillion (yes, with a T) to the federal deficit over the next decade. This figure stands as a mountain next to the small pile of $2 billion (yes, with a B) worth of verifiable budget cuts from DOGE.
All the while, Republicans and Trump sang Musk's praises, knowing that they would turn around and spend money that we don't have.
But Musk should have realized it was all a show. Trump skyrocketed the deficit in his first presidency, and every promise he's ever given for a balanced budget has been a lie. As much as MAGA likes to claim otherwise, Trump's GOP is no different than the swamp creatures they like to criticize.
Opinion: Elon Musk is frustrated with Republicans wasting DOGE's effort to cut. So am I.
Those who are actually interested in cutting government spending, which I think Musk at least somewhat seems to be, should not attach the idea to political parties because they will inevitably disappoint.
There hasn't been a genuine effort to produce a balanced budget since the late 1990s, and there isn't likely to be from either Republicans or Democrats anytime soon.
Trump and Musk have too big personalities to work together
I'm not the least bit surprised that these two narcissists' relationship flamed out so quickly.
There was never enough room in Trump's White House for both his and Musk's personalities. Trump has never maintained an extended relationship with somebody who is willing to disagree with him publicly.
During his first term, Trump had extremely high personnel turnover rates, both among his Cabinet and his aides. Trump's "you're fired" catchphrase really says a lot about his approach to relationships. He is quick to turn on people who disagree with him or even just publicly embarrass him.
Musk has been loudly advocating against Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" for its impact on the deficit. After a week of Musk criticizing the deficit spending in Trump's bill, the president has clearly had enough. He cannot tolerate a dissenting voice from within his ranks.
Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.
Trump and the GOP are now likely to kick a powerful ally to the curb, all because Trump is so vain that he cannot handle differing opinions. This is why the Republican Party is now made up of yes-men, because they have allowed Trump to push all the spine that he can out of the party.
Now that the sideshow of Musk is gone, Republicans have one less thing to hide behind. I'm not sure that makes it any more likely they'll act responsibly, but at least it's more transparent to Americans now.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
33 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences' if he backs Democrats
Mr Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he has no plans to make up with tech entrepreneur Mr Musk. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX was over, Mr Trump responded: 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'I'm too busy doing other things,' Mr Trump continued. Alarming — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 7, 2025 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him (Mr Musk) a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him.' The US President also issued a warning amid speculation that Mr Musk could back Democratic legislators and candidates in the 2026 mid-term elections. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Mr Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Mr Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts. The US President's latest comments suggest Mr Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Mr Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies. As a major government contractor, Mr Musk's businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution. Mr Trump has already threatened to cut Mr Musk's contracts, calling it an easy way to save money. The dramatic rupture between the President and the world's richest man began this week with Mr Musk's public criticism of Mr Trump's 'big beautiful bill' pending on Capitol Hill. Mr Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination'. Mr Trump criticised Mr Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Mr Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and Republican congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Mr Musk suggested Mr Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the President's association with infamous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein. In an interview, US vice president JD Vance tried to downplay the feud. He said Mr Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Mr Trump, but called him an 'emotional guy' who was becoming frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Mr Vance said. Mr Vance called Mr Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur,' and said that Mr Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sought to cut US government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good'. Mr Vance made the comments in an interview with 'manosphere' comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the US Navy when he opened for Mr Trump at a military base in Qatar. The Vance interview was taped on Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. During the interview, Mr Von showed the vice president Mr Musk's claim that Mr Trump's administration has not released all the records related to Epstein because Mr Trump is mentioned in them. Vice President Vance on what it's like to be Trump's VP: 'It is my job, obviously, to provide the President honest counsel…he talks to everybody. I think it's why he's in touch with normal people.' — Vice President JD Vance (@VP) June 7, 2025 Mr Vance responded to that, saying: 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.' 'This stuff is just not helpful,' Mr Vance said in response to another post shared by Mr Musk calling for Mr Trump to be impeached and replaced with Mr Vance. 'It's totally insane. The President is doing a good job.' Vance also defended the bill that has drawn Mr Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Mr Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by 2.4 trillion dollars (£1.77 trillion) over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'It's a good bill,' Mr Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.'
South Wales Argus
33 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences' if he backs Democrats
Mr Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he has no plans to make up with tech entrepreneur Mr Musk. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX was over, Mr Trump responded: 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'I'm too busy doing other things,' Mr Trump continued. 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him (Mr Musk) a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him.' The US President also issued a warning amid speculation that Mr Musk could back Democratic legislators and candidates in the 2026 mid-term elections. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Mr Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Mr Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts. The US President's latest comments suggest Mr Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Mr Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies. As a major government contractor, Mr Musk's businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution. Mr Trump has already threatened to cut Mr Musk's contracts, calling it an easy way to save money. The dramatic rupture between the President and the world's richest man began this week with Mr Musk's public criticism of Mr Trump's 'big beautiful bill' pending on Capitol Hill. Mr Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination'. Mr Trump criticised Mr Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Mr Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and Republican congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Mr Musk suggested Mr Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the President's association with infamous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Trump's spending plans appeared to cause the rift initially (AP) Mr Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein. In an interview, US vice president JD Vance tried to downplay the feud. He said Mr Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Mr Trump, but called him an 'emotional guy' who was becoming frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Mr Vance said. Mr Vance called Mr Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur,' and said that Mr Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sought to cut US government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good'. Mr Vance made the comments in an interview with 'manosphere' comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the US Navy when he opened for Mr Trump at a military base in Qatar. The Vance interview was taped on Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. During the interview, Mr Von showed the vice president Mr Musk's claim that Mr Trump's administration has not released all the records related to Epstein because Mr Trump is mentioned in them. Vice President Vance on what it's like to be Trump's VP: 'It is my job, obviously, to provide the President honest counsel…he talks to everybody. I think it's why he's in touch with normal people.' — Vice President JD Vance (@VP) June 7, 2025 Mr Vance responded to that, saying: 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.' 'This stuff is just not helpful,' Mr Vance said in response to another post shared by Mr Musk calling for Mr Trump to be impeached and replaced with Mr Vance. 'It's totally insane. The President is doing a good job.' Vance also defended the bill that has drawn Mr Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Mr Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by 2.4 trillion dollars (£1.77 trillion) over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'It's a good bill,' Mr Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.'
Sky News
36 minutes ago
- Sky News
Donald Trump warns of 'consequences' if Elon Musk funds rivals - as 'big bomb' Epstein post disappears
Donald Trump has warned of "serious consequences" if Elon Musk funds the US president's political rivals - as the social media post at the centre of their public falling out was removed. Speaking on Saturday to Sky News' US partner NBC News, Mr Trump warned of repercussions if Musk funded Democrats who opposed his sweeping budget bill. "If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump said in a phone interview. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," he added, not specifying what those consequences would be. 'The truth will come out' It comes after the tech billionaire claimed the US president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in a post on his social media platform X, as he traded blows with his former colleague in a dramatic public row. In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: "Time to drop the really big bomb: "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public." He had doubled down in a follow-up post, saying: "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out." He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House - with the posts disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday. Users clicking on the message - first posted on Thursday - were instead greeted with: " page doesn't exist. Try searching for something else." Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. JD Vance has his say Amid the fallout, vice president JD Vance said Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after Mr Trump but characterised him as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. He made the comments in an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von - one of the "manosphere" influencers the Trump team targeted to gain votes with young men during the election. "I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Mr Vance said. He also said such outbursts "happen to everyone", adding: "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." 'Big ugly spending bill' Musk and Mr Trump's relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee. In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president's signature tax and spending bill as a "big ugly spending bill". President Trump posted on his own platform Truth Social, saying Musk had been "wearing thin" and claimed he "asked him to leave" his government position - something Musk denied. Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement. "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," she said. "The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again." The spat hit Tesla shares, which closed down 14.3% on Thursday, losing about $150bn (£111bn) in value. In an interview with ABC News, Mr Trump was asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk on Friday.
