Elon Musk had previously hinted that he wasn’t too pleased with the spending coming out of Washington DC, even with the Republicans controlling a majority in the Congress. But he was still somewhat subtle and was trying to stay positive about the work done by DOGE.
Now that Musk has left as something of a temporary government employee, his frustration has come out. And it has come out quite strong.
I have been speculating about possible trouble in paradise between Musk and Trump. It’s not that two big personalities can’t get along and work together. The problem is that they have very different visions.
Trump talks a good game at times about fighting off the deep state and getting our economy in order, but then he supports his “Big Beautiful Bill”. The BBB is certainly big in its spending. It is beautiful for the establishment and the ruling elite, but it is not so beautiful for the average American who is getting ripped off.
On June 3, 2025, Musk started off with this X post (tweet).
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. 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.”
Musk had many things to say that day.
Responding to a chart of the U.S. national debt, Musk said: “Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America! ENOUGH”.
He also said:
“We need a new bill that doesn’t grow the deficit.”
Taking on Trump?
Musk is not directly attacking Trump by name, but he is attacking the bill that Trump has endorsed.
Trump has been ruthlessly attacking the best members of Congress for not supporting his big beautiful bill. Trump really went after Thomas Massie and said that someone should primary him. More recently, Trump went after Rand Paul just for saying that he can’t support the bill because it allows the debt to grow by too much.
Well, guess who Elon is very loosely aligning himself with now?
He isn’t saying a lot, but he did seem to respond positively to posts from Paul and Massie (and Ron Paul, too). Musk is going after Trump’s position without directly going after Trump.
You had to wonder how long this bromance would last. Trump is so unpredictable that we don’t know if he will finally come out swinging against Musk or if he’ll just mostly ignore him. There is also the option that Trump could completely change his own position on this, but it would be difficult at this point for Trump to veto or stop the big beautiful bill that he has been praising so much. I don’t think a man with his ego could do this.
Who is Trump Trying to Serve?
Will Trump be able to read the political tea leaves on this one? I think that a large segment of Republicans will side with Musk over Trump on this issue. Of course, I mean the average Republican voter.
The Republicans in Congress are mostly on board with this spending bill. They are the establishment. They like the money and the power. There a many congressional Republicans who have publicly praised Musk and the work of DOGE because they knew it was popular. Yet, they will vote for this massive spending bill. They were either lying about supporting the work of DOGE or they are too cowardly to oppose Trump and his BBB.
Trump has been one to campaign on behalf of the little guy. At least rhetorically, he has opposed the ruling establishment. But here, he is completely on the side of the establishment and big government. He is siding with creeps like Mike Johnson while sticking it to the average American. Elon Musk seems to be genuinely trying to get government spending under control.
I know many people accuse Musk of trying to profit off his involvement in politics. I find this incredibly hard to believe. Musk has hurt his companies by being so involved in politics. He was already the richest man in the world. He could have just said something nice about Trump when he was elected and left it at that. He didn’t need this grief.
Even if Musk is doing this for nefarious reasons, he is still correct in most of the things he is saying about runaway deficits and big spending. And for whatever reasons Trump has for supporting this bill, he is completely wrong and is doing harm to the country for it.
I truly believe that a lot of Republicans are going to side with Musk here. Trump better play his cards very carefully or he could lose the support of a lot of his base.
He should have lost that support already with the awful things he has been doing since around the end of March. But this is too obvious even for most Republicans. Trump is clearly on the side of the establishment and big spending with this spending bill. His support for this BBB is undercutting everything that DOGE did.
Musk is right to lash out at this monstrosity. We’ll see if Trump is smart enough to wake up to what is happening.