- Elon Musk has publicly condemned Donald Trump’s signature economic plan, calling the “One Big Beautiful Bill” an “abomination” and accusing it of undoing the cost-cutting work achieved by his Department of Government Efficiency. In response, the White House dismissed Musk’s criticisms as a “hoax,” issuing a detailed rebuttal claiming the bill will reduce the deficit by $6.6 trillion over the next decade through tariffs, spending cuts, and regulatory rollbacks—while also promising unprecedented economic growth.
When the Musk-Trump partnership first began, many speculated as to how long it would last—and what would push the pair apart.
Four months later, the punters have their answer: Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” has been slammed as an “abomination” by the Tesla CEO.
Overnight the richest man on Earth ramped up his campaign against the fiscal linchpin of Trump 2.0, labeling it the Debt Slavery Bill and sharing a Kill Bill poster on his X timeline.
He also urged voters to protest the policy, adding online: “Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.”
Musk’s foray into politics began with financially backing then-Republican nominee Trump, before making his Washington, D.C., debut as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a special government employee.
But the central spending bill of Trump 2.0—promising the largest tax cuts “in history”—has drawn criticism from Musk as undoing all of the cost-cutting and efficiency work carried out by his DOGE team.
While the Trump team claim the policies in the bill will boost GDP by 2.6% to 3.2% in the long term and increase take-home pay for median income households by $5,000 a year, previous projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found the legislation would add $3.8 trillion to the deficit while proposed cuts to Medicaid would shave only $1 trillion in spending.
Meanwhile DOGE, which was originally tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the public deficit before the number was quickly marked down, cost Musk not only the billions wiped off his personal wealth but also the reputational and criminal damage suffered by EV maker Tesla as a result of the company’s ties to the Trump administration.
This is a point Musk himself has pointed out, posting on the social media platform he owns: “[The bill] more than defeats all the cost savings achieved by the @DOGE team at great personal cost and risk.”
Other sources have suggested that Musk ramping up his attacks on the Oval Office are the result of another perceived slight: Jared Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA being pulled by Trump.
The president said Isaacman, a close ally of Musk, had been taken out of the running “after a thorough review of prior associations.”
Isaacman, who until recently led payments company Shift4, countered in an interview this week that his nomination was nixed just as Musk left Washington, saying: “I don’t want to play dumb on this. I don’t think the timing was much of a coincidence.”
Citing anonymous sources, the Wall Street Journal reported Musk was “infuriated” by the decision, making him more willing to criticize Trump.
Musk did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
Unusual silence from Trump
It’s unusual for the president to be criticized so publicly and not bite back.
Instead, the White House is sticking to a playbook used by Musk himself: calling such claims a “hoax.”
In a rebuttal published by the Oval Office yesterday, the Trump administration said statements such as “The One Big Beautiful Bill increases spending” and “The One Big Beautiful Bill adds to the deficit” are false.
Instead the article, positioned as a “mythbuster,” lays out a number of “facts,” including: “Upon enactment the bill—and through increased tariffs revenues, discretionary spending cuts, and reversing Biden-era regulations—the Trump Administration will have taken actions that reduce deficits by at least $6.6 trillion over the next decade.”
For example, the White House points to the CBO’s predictions that while tariffs will shrink the economy it will also reduce federal deficits by $2.8 trillion (the inclusion of the Big Beautiful Bill in its modeling is not mentioned).
It adds: “By every honest metric, President Donald J. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill dramatically improves the fiscal trajectory of the United States and unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also chimed in this week that President Trump is “not delighted that Elon did a 180” and added that the SpaceX founder is “flat wrong.”
So, while President Trump gifted Musk a symbolic “key to the White House” during a ceremony to mark his departure from government only last week, the Tesla CEO may find out the Oval Office has already changed the locks.
