Trump-Musk Feud Explodes as Elon Takes Credit for Election Win
Meanwhile, the president suggested the world's richest man may have come down with a nasty case of Trump Derangement Syndrome
Elon Musk is waging a fierce campaign against Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill, calling it “a disgusting, truly disgusting bill,” while trying to rally senators to his opposition.
Trump is not happy.
The president responded at length to Musk’s opposition during remarks to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, criticizing the former director of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who officially left the administration last week.
“I’m very disappointed in Elon. I helped him a lot,” Trump said.
Trump added that Musk only opposed the bill after he left the administration, suggesting the world’s richest man may be suffering from Trump’s depression syndrome. “He’s not the first,” he said. “People leave my administration, they love us, and then, at some point, they miss it terribly.” Some accept it, others become hostile. I don’t know what it is. It’s a kind of Trump depression syndrome, I guess. We suffer from it with others. They leave and wake up in the morning, their shine gone, the world a different place, and they become hostile.
On Tuesday, Elon Musk intensified his criticism of the bill, which includes massive cuts to social services like Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. He wrote on Twitter that “this colossal, obscene, money-raising congressional spending bill is a disgusting, disgusting piece of work.” Musk appeared upset that the bill is expected to increase the national deficit by trillions of dollars, though some, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), questioned whether he was truly upset that the bill eliminates the electric vehicle tax credits that have helped his automaker, Tesla.
Trump himself made this statement Thursday. “Elon Musk knew the details of this bill better than anyone here,” the president said, adding that he “only became aware of the problem when he learned we were going to have to reduce the requirement to sell electric vehicles,” he said of Musk.
Musk responded directly to Trump via Channel X. He wrote, “This is a mistake. I was never even shown this bill, and it was passed in the middle of the night, so fast that almost no one in Congress got to read it!”
Musk added, “Whatever. Keep the cuts to incentives for electric vehicles and solar energy in the bill, even if the oil and gas subsidies remain intact (this is a huge injustice!), but get rid of the “mountain of hypocrisy” it contains. Never in the history of civilization has a law been so big and beautiful. Everyone knows that! Either you get a big and ugly bill, or a simple and beautiful one. Big and beautiful, that’s the solution.”
Musk then lashed out at Trump. He wrote: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, the Democrats would have taken control of the House of Representatives, and the Republicans would have had 51 seats to 49 in the Senate.” He added: “How ungrateful!”
Trump and Musk are now at odds, a feud that has sparked widespread speculation about the true nature of their relationship. They congratulated each other less than a week ago, during Trump’s farewell to Musk at an Oval Office press conference. Trump said, “Elon Musk’s service to America is unparalleled in modern history,” adding that he “is not really going away.”
