Businessman Elon Musk has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Trump administration following his exit from the White House.
On May 28, the White House announced that Elon Musk would be parting ways—initially exiting to focus on Tesla, the multi-billion dollar corporation owned by Musk. However, he is now expressing his frustration towards President Trump and the passing of his new budgeting bill.
He formerly served as Senior Advisor to the president and helped create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The newly established department aimed to reduce government spending, and is still running since his departure.
During his initial exit, he thanked President Trump for allowing him to fulfill the role as a Special Government Employee. The role allowed him to be a Special Advisor to the president for 130 days, marking the end of May as the limit.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life through government,” Musk announced on X.
However, hostilities progressed after Musk left his position.
On May 22, the House of Representatives voted to pass the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Coined by President Trump, it would be considered the largest tax break in American history.
“Great job by Speaker Mike Johnson, and the House Leadership, and thank you to every Republican who votes YES on this Historic Bill! Now, it’s time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!” President Trump said in a statement posted on X.
However, this bill has been met with major backlash, as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that over the next ten years it will add over $2.4 trillion to primary deficits.
On June 3, Elon Musk took to his social media site “X” to express his concern over the passing of the bill.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk said. “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.”
He continued to warn of the negative effects it would have on the country and urged citizens to speak against the passing of the bill.
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL,” Musk said.
He then resurfaced old posts from President Trump—which specifically criticized major spending from the government.
On July 31, 2012, In a post created on “X” (formerly known as “Twitter”), President Trump expressed his anger with the government’s excessive spending.
“No member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if our country’s budget is not balanced—deficits not allowed!” President Trump said.
Musk responded to the post with the remark “I couldn’t agree more!,” nodding to the president’s hypocrisy in introducing the costly bill.
On June 5, President Trump responded to Musk’s anger in the House of Representatives passing the bill.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” President Trump said when speaking in the Oval Office.
He discussed that Musk had great knowledge of the inner workings of the bill. However, Musk discredited the remark, claiming that it was never shown to him once, and instead was passed at night so Congress would not read details found within the bill.
Shortly after President Trump spoke in the Oval Office, he took to his social media platform “Truth Social” to express his anger towards Elon Musk.
“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!” President Trump said.
He defended his decision in passing the bill, despite disapproval from Musk and other economists. He claimed that it will bring many benefits to American citizens, such as a record cut in expenses, and without it there would result in a 68% tax increase instead.
Tensions between the two have now worsened after, in a now deleted post, Musk alleged that President appears in the “Epstein files,” referring to travel logs and other contact information once held by convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk said in a post on X.
President Trump has denied claims of appearing on the flight logs to Epstein’s private island, a location once known for sex trafficking.
The two have not yet reconciled, as President Trump has now threatened Musk with serious consequences if he chooses to fund the Democratic candidates running against Republicans who voted in favor of Trump’s budgeting bill.
