File: Elon Musk listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
As the Senate debated President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” before a final vote, Musk issued a stark warning via his social media platform X. “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote.
In early June, Musk, a major campaign donor to Trump and a former key aide, called the bill a “disgusting abomination”, leading to a public falling out with the Republican president.
The two then appeared to cool tensions, with Trump telling reporters that he wished Musk well, while the latter wrote on X that he regretted having gone “too far”.
But as US Senators gathered to vote on amendments to the bill on Monday, Musk ramped up his criticism once again, saying lawmakers who had campaigned on cutting spending but backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame!”
Trump’s DOGE suggestion
Trump hit back at Musk on Tuesday, stating that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – which Musk had previously led – should review the subsidies that Musk’s companies have received, to save the federal government “BIG” money.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
In response to Trump’s post, Musk posted on his own platform, X, saying, “I am literally saying CUT IT ALL. Now.”
Hitting the debt ceiling is the only thing that will actually force the government to cut waste and fraud.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2025
That’s why the debt ceiling legislation exists!
CNN/ Al Jazeera