Rivalries between now-former US President Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk heated up Thursday after Trump lamented Musk’s blistering attack on his significant tax and spending legislation. Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump asserted Musk was well-acquainted with the measure, even going so far as to say, “Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody.”
Trump charged that Musk had shifted his position only after he discovered that the bill would cut back the electric vehicle (EV) mandate a sector with significant financial stakes for Tesla. “He had no issue with it—until he knew billions were at stake,” Trump stated, also suggesting that their previously close relationship was finished.
In retaliation, Musk quickly debunked Trump’s claims. On X, he posted, “False. This bill was never presented to me even once and passed in the dead of night so quickly that practically no one in Congress was able to read it!”
Musk went on to claim that Trump politically owed him, stating, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election… Such ingratitude.”
On Wednesday, Musk ramped up the criticism of the bill, terming it a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled… disgusting abomination” that would balloon the US budget deficit to an “unsustainable” $2.5 trillion. He criticized lawmakers who favored it, stating they knew they had “done wrong.”
In spite of Musk’s blistering comments, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against the criticism, stating, “The President already knows where Elon stands. This is one big, beautiful bill and he’s sticking to it.”
The comments from Musk indicate an increasingly widening gap with Trump, even though he was previously head of the DOGE task force and contributed a $300 million donation to Trump’s campaign. The controversy represents a dramatic reversal in one of Washington’s most unusual political partnerships.
