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AFTER SPENDING THE first four months as the darling of the second Trump administration and the MAGA movement, Elon Musk has, as he might phrase it, put that goodwill through the wood chipper in a matter of days.
Having been brought on board by Trump to oversee the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk and his employees went about gutting the budgets of government departments and agencies, leading hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs.
This, he consistently said, was all in the name of ridding the US government of “waste, fraud and abuse”, in order to bring down the country’s massive debt and budget deficit.
While largely avoiding transparency, DOGE has released data it said shows the total amount of spending it has cut, but analysis from multiple US news outlets has found those figures to be shoddily cobbled together and unreliable.
Musk poured huge amounts of money into Trump’s campaign and also funded a conservative candidate’s run for a seat on Pennsylvania’s supreme court this year, which was won by the more liberal candidate.
Musk has in recent weeks complained about how he was treated by the public and media while working for the Trump administration, showing signs he was growing tired of politics and the public scrutiny that comes with it.
Having reached the 130-day limit for special government employees, Musk departed the White House last week on what appeared to be cordial terms, although Axios reported he was denied an extension to his time in government.
The White House posted a video on its website summing up Musk’s time in the administration with the message: “DOGE is WINNING! Thank you Elon!”
But with Trump’s signature “big beautiful” spending bill passing through the House of Representatives, the Tesla, Starlink and SpaceX owner has come out against the proposed legislation publicly, saying it would wipe out the savings he claims DOGE made under his stewardship.
The bill will now be the subject of weeks of debate in the Senate, where it will likely undergo some changes.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore, Musk wrote on X on Tuesday.
This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,” Musk said.
The bill is set to add around $3 trillion to US deficits over a 10-year period, despite deep cuts to healthcare supports and food aid programs.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the combined effects of tax cuts and cost savings would constitute a giant transfer of wealth from the poorest 10% of Americans to the richest 10%.
Musk said the bill would burden “citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
It wasn’t the first time Musk had voiced opposition to the bill, but this week’s attacks have raised the stakes.
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me,” Trump wrote on social media yesterday, “but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress.”
Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
The deficit is the difference between the money the government makes and the money it spends. If the government spends more than it collects in revenues, it’s running a deficit.
The federal debt, which currently stands at $36.9 trillion, is the total of accumulated deficits.
The federal debt and deficit has been a perennial concern for the Republican Party for decades.
If his criticisms of the bill are to be taken seriously, Musk only now appears to be realising that the GOP has never followed through on addressing those stated concerns, and in fact has historically been the party responsible for increasing it the most.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
Whether or not Musk is genuinely concerned about the debt and deficit, and how it will be affected by Trump’s bill, there are aspects of the legislation that are set to directly impact the bottom line of his electric car company – Tesla.
As written, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will reverse the financial incentives that encourage people to buy electric vehicles (EVs).
The bill would mostly phase out Biden’s clean vehicle tax credit, which lets EV buyers claim up to $7,500, and also provides up to $4,000 for people buying second-hand EVs, after 2026.
However, the credit would actually be done away with by the end of this year if the EVs purchased are manufactured by companies that sold more than 200,000 units between 31 December 2009 and 31 December 2025 - a reversion to the pre-Biden situation for EV credits.
This would make buying a Tesla, which has sold far more than 200,000 EVs since 2009, more expensive for American customers.
The bill would also add a new $250 annual fee for EV drivers, which would be collected by the Federal Highway Administration.
Yesterday, Trump said in a Truth Social post: “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”
Trump is now threatening to cut all subsidies that support Musk’s businesses, which are substantial.
“I was always surprised Biden didn’t do it!” he wrote on his social media platform.
Only last year Musk was calling for the credits to be cut, saying that it would hurt his competitors and “only help Tesla”.
“Also, remove subsidies from all industries,” he added.
That tune seems to have changed.
It’s not just the car manufacturing part of Tesla that would be affected by cutting the EV credits though, the company’s energy storage arm Tesla Energy would also be hurt by the bill.
On 29 May, Tesla Energy said: “Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America’s energy independence and the reliability of our grid.”
Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America’s energy independence and the reliability of our grid - we urge the senate to enact legislation with a sensible wind down of 25D and 48e. This will ensure continued speedy deployment of over 60 GW capacity per year to…
— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) May 29, 2025
Tesla’s market value had surged in the lead-up to Trump’s inauguration and investors saw Musk’s proximity to the administration as a good omen for the company.
Those gains were largely wiped out this year as Musk became a lightning rod for public outrage over Trump’s policies, among other more fundamental factors related to the company’s performance.
Tesla sales have slumped significantly since last year as more competitors have entered the EV market and deliveries have fallen short of forecasts.
Since Musk and Trump’s very public – and ongoing – falling out this week, Tesla stock has plummeted; the company’s market capitalisation has dropped by more than 14% today alone.
While Trump was hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office yesterday, the current spat with Musk inevitably came up.
“I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” Trump told reporters.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Musk responded on his social media site X by saying Trump would not have won the 2024 election without him and complaining about Trump’s “ingratitude.”
Musk also posted that Trump “is in the Epstein files”.
“That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP that Musk’s Epstein tweet “is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
The “Epstein files” refers to information related to the deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who once said he was Trump’s “closest friend”.
Musk is also now backing calls for the US president to be impeached.
With reporting from AFP
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