In a striking move that highlights a growing rift between him and former President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has sharply criticised Trump’s flagship tax and spending bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination.” Musk’s harsh words have come amid escalating tensions between the two influential figures.
However, the White House has said that Trump already knew Musk’s stance and continues to stick to the bill.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked about Musk’s remark soon after the post, said that Trump “already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill.”
“This is one, big, beautiful bill,” she added. “And he’s sticking to it,” reported BBC.
The budget was passed by the House of Representatives last month and includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks, more defence spending, and more borrowing by the US government.
“Shame on those who voted for it,” Musk said in a post on X about the legislative linchpin of Trump’s second-term agenda.
This comes a week after the tech billionaire abruptly left the Trump administration after 129 days of working to cut costs with his team, known as Doge.
Musk-Trump Rift
The remark marks Musk’s first public disagreement with Trump since leaving his government, after having previously called the plan “disappointing”.
The Tesla CEO’s term in the Trump administration came to an end on May 31, however, Trump said that he will “always, be with us, helping all the way.”
The tax bill, which Trump has branded as a “big, beautiful bill” has been estimated to increase the budget deficit by $600 billion in the next fiscal year. A budget deficit is the difference between what the government spends and the revenue it receives.
Musk’s All-Out Attack On Bill
In a series of posts on X, Musk said the “outrageous, pork-filled” spending bill” will hugely increase the already massive budget deficit to $2.5 trillion and “burden America [sic] citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt”.
“Pork” refers to spending on projects in lawmakers’ constituencies in American politics.
Musk, who earlier vowed to fund campaign challenges against any Republican who voted against Trump’s agenda, gave a political warning in another post.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” he wrote.
