Elon Musk Extends His Criticism Into the Night

He's clearly no fan of the spending bill
Posted Jun 4, 2025 10:00 AM CDT
Elon Musk Keeps Up the Criticism
President Trump is seen, right, with Elon Musk during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

After calling the Big Beautiful Bill that passed the House to pay for President Trump's domestic agenda a "disgusting abomination" on Tuesday, Elon Musk didn't exactly move on. The Daily Beast reports a "flurry" of new X posts followed into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, including:

  • "Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America! ENOUGH." (link)
  • "This immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!" (link)
  • "Interest payments already consume 25% of all government revenue. If the massive deficit spending continues, there will only be money for interest payments and nothing else! No social security, no medical, no defense ... nothing." (link)

So what's driving the acrimony? Sources tell Axios two sticking points relate to Musk's outside-the-White-House interests: He was reportedly peeved by the elimination of the Tesla-friendly electric vehicle tax credit under the spending bill and also bothered that the administration wasn't open to leveraging his Starlink satellite system for air traffic control. ABC News offers a similar story from its sources, who describe a "widening rift on a range of recent moves by the administration." They cite the tax credit and say Musk was also miffed by the administration's AI deals with rival OpenAI and the rescinding of Jared Isaacman's nomination as NASA administrator. (More Elon Musk stories.)

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