TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN TRUMP & MUSK – U.S President and Tech tycoon have a heated exchange via social media posts
President Donald Trump spoke out against Elon Musk, saying he was “disappointed” by the billionaire’s public opposition to the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill that is at the heart of Trump’s agenda.
He spoke about the “great relationship” they had, but was unsure about their future.
Trump also asserted that Musk’s days of blistering attacks on the bill were motivated by the proposed elimination of consumer tax credits for electric vehicles. Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, has said he opposes the bill because it will increase federal deficits.
Trump suggested that Musk, who received a praise-filled sendoff from Trump last week after overseeing his federal bureaucracy cost-cutting campaign, was upset because he missed working for Trump.
As Trump was speaking, Musk wrote on Social Media, “Slim Beautiful Bill for the win,” a reference to the bill’s official title, the “Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Musk followed that up with another post, saying he was fine with the cuts to electric vehicle credits as long as Republicans removed what he called a “mountain of disgusting pork” in wasteful spending from the bill.
Musk came into the government with brash plans to cut $2 trillion out of the federal budget. He left last week having achieved far less than that, having cut about half of 1% of total spending, amounting to $115 billion through various actions.
Musk has been a powerful Trump ally, spending nearly $300 million to boost Republicans in the 2024 election and then overseeing Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
