For months, the left-leaning media have tried to drive a wedge of division between President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who just recently concluded a stint in the White House as the nominal head of the budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency.
The media may have finally gotten their wish, as Musk recently trashed as unacceptable the "Big, Beautiful Bill" Congress has been working on to codify Trump's policy agenda in next year's budget, Fox News reported.
If the media had hoped for open conflict between Trump and Musk, however, they are likely to be disappointed, as the White House has downplayed and dismissed the impact of Musk's critiques, and the president has not yet responded directly to what his wealthy and influential friend said about the legislation.
Musk, who had previously raised concerns about insufficient spending cuts in the budget bill that Congress is still working on, lashed out on Tuesday against the legislation that he derided as a "disgusting abomination" while also calling out and shaming those who'd voted to support it.
"I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore," Musk wrote in an X post. "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."
In a prior interview last week, Fox News noted that Musk had expressed how "disappointed" he was with the "Big, Beautiful Bill" that barely passed the House and faces some opposition in the Senate, as he felt its lack of sufficient spending cuts "undermines" the work he and DOGE did to highlight and eliminate examples of wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive federal spending.
The Daily Caller reported that during Tuesday's White House press briefing, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt "how mad" President Trump would be once he found out about Musk's critical post, which he proceeded to quote verbatim.
"The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill," Leavitt replied, though she declined to specify whether that knowledge came from direct discussions or Musk's commentary in interviews and online.
The chief White House spokeswoman added of Musk's remarks, "It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it."
Though President Trump has not yet directly responded to Musk's trashing of the "Big, Beautiful Bill" currently under consideration in the Senate, he did offer up on Tuesday a strong defense of the legislation in response to some of the general criticism it has received.
In one Truth Social post, Trump wrote, "Passing THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL is a Historic Opportunity to turn our Country around after four disastrous years under Joe Biden."
"We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors -- Something 80 Million Voters supported in November," he added along with other policy highlights from the bill.
In a follow-up post just moments later, Trump also said, "So many false statements are being made about 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,' but what nobody understands is that it’s the single biggest Spending Cut in History, by far! But there will be NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. In fact, they will be saved from the incompetence of the Democrats."
To be sure, Musk is not alone in criticizing the bill, and the legislation's future is uncertain in the Senate, at least as-is, as enough Republican senators have expressed their opposition to the lack of significant spending cuts -- though Trump and the White House remain optimistic that problem areas can be adequately addressed in a way to garner the necessary votes for passage.
