Elon Musk and President Trump Clash Heads on X amid 'One Big Beautiful Bill'
The last few days on X have been a showdown between President Trump and his longtime friend, Elon Musk. They have gone back and forth with each other, with Elon being very vocal about his disapproval of the One Big Beautiful Bill. This has been surprising for many observers, given the well-known and open relationship between the President and the tech billionaire.
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Over the last 140 days of President Trump's second term, we have seen the close-knit relationship between him and Elon Musk. Elon served as the head of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) for the first 130 days of Trump's second term, wiping out more than $170 billion from U.S. government spending. Elon's last day in office included a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office to praise Elon and the DOGE team for the work they had been doing.
'Elon is really not leaving, he's gonna be back and forth, I think I have a feeling,' Trump said.
Musk added, 'The DOGE team is doing an incredible job. They're going to continue doing an incredible job, and I will continue to be visiting here and be a friend and advisor to the President.'
The One Big Beautiful Bill
Looking at President Trump's new bill, which he wants the Senate to pass by July 4th, there is a lot to uncover and discuss about what he wants for America. To begin with, he starts with lots of tax relief for American families and workers. He permanently extends lower federal income tax brackets and repeals the deduction for personal exemptions. He permanently doubles the child tax credit to $2,000 and then implements a temporary boost to $2,500 until 2028 to adjust for inflation. Additional tax benefits include deductions on tips and overtime pay for workers.
He includes major Medicaid cuts by adding work requirements, frequent eligibility checks, and restrictions on who can be covered (transgender care ban, caps on undocumented immigrants).
Looking now at national defense—this is where the bill has seen some negative feedback. Trump wants to have a massive defense boost by spending $150 billion on new defense projects and a new 'Golden Dome' weapon system. Within this $150 billion investment, about $50–$70 billion would be allocated for new border wall construction and an increase in CBP and ICE agents.
Finally, looking at energy, Trump wants to end the tax break for electric cars, which would also eliminate credits to make solar panels and wind farms cheaper to install. In addition, he wants to cut renewable energy capacity in half, which could lead to more fossil fuels and ultimately more pollution.
All in all, this would reduce current government revenue by $3.7 trillion through tax breaks and deductions, offset by government spending cuts of $1.3 trillion through reductions in government programs. The net result, however, is that this would add more than $2.5 trillion of new debt for the U.S. over the next decade.
Elon Musk Calls Out President Trump on New Bill
Musk has turned against Trump and the bill because it ultimately goes against all the work he and the DOGE team accomplished over the last 130 days—reducing U.S. spending, promising to begin balancing the budget, and lowering national debt levels. On Wednesday, Elon started sharing his views about the bill on X: 'Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok, KILL the BILL.'
The main issue Elon has with the bill is that it adds more than $2.5 trillion back into the nation's debt; in contrast, his job at DOGE and Trump's promise to America were to cut government spending and decrease the national deficit. He continued to vocalize his opinions about the bill all day Thursday. While he agrees with parts of the bill—including cutting the tax break for electric vehicles—Elon tweeted:
'Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill; Slim and beautiful is the way.'
During President Trump's press conference on Thursday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he finally had a chance to give his opinion: 'I'm very disappointed with Elon. I've helped him a lot. He knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody sitting here. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out we're going to cut the EV mandate.'
Elon was quick to respond by saying: 'False. This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!'
The two continued later into Thursday, going back and forth, with Trump even threatening to terminate Elon's Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX government-backed contracts and subsidies. Elon's comments on Thursday led Tesla stock to decrease 15%, wiping out more than $150 billion in market cap—one of the largest single-day declines and the largest single-day dollar loss in Tesla's history. Since then its been able to correct itself just slightly, but not a full rebound to Wednesdays price.
Elon has continued to be vocal on X in showing his displeasure with the new bill, calling on U.S. Senators to take a close look at it over the next few weeks and implement major changes.
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