Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump’s flagship tax and spending bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” and accusing Congress of driving the United States into financial ruin.
The scathing remarks, posted on Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) platform, have intensified divisions within the Republican Party, just as the controversial bill moves to the Senate for final negotiations.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on Tuesday. “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.”
The legislation, dubbed by Trump as “The One Big Beautiful Bill,” extends his 2017 tax cuts and includes new spending on border security and defense. However, it also proposes steep cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and green energy tax incentives, programs widely relied upon by millions of Americans.
Musk, who until last week served as the head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claimed the bill would balloon the federal budget deficit to an “unsustainable” $2.5 trillion. “Congress is making America bankrupt,” he declared.
Though a key donor to Trump’s last campaign, Musk has increasingly voiced concerns about the president’s fiscal direction. He now argues that the bill undermines DOGE’s core mission of cutting fraud and reducing waste.
His criticism found immediate backing from Representative Thomas Massie, one of the few House Republicans who voted against the bill. “He’s right,” Massie posted in response.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back, revealing he had spoken to Musk for over 20 minutes in an attempt to explain the bill’s merits. “With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the One Big Beautiful Bill. It’s a very important first start,” Johnson said. “I just deeply regret he’s made this mistake.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune struck a more diplomatic tone. “So we have a difference of opinion. He’s entitled to that opinion. We’re going to proceed full speed ahead.”
The bill passed the House by a narrow margin and now faces tough scrutiny in the Senate. Several fiscally conservative Republicans, including Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul, have echoed Musk’s concerns.
“We have enough holdouts to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit,” Johnson told CNN.
Trump, however, remains defiant, dismissing critics as “grandstanders” on his Truth Social platform. “So many false statements are being made about ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’,” he wrote on Monday.
Despite Musk’s vocal opposition, the White House stood firm. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The president already knows where Elon Musk stands on this bill. It doesn’t change his opinion: this is one big, beautiful bill and he is sticking to it.”
The Congressional Budget Office and independent analysts estimate the bill would add between $2.3 trillion and $5 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade. The administration insists economic growth from the tax cuts will offset the costs.
“We believe it will actually reduce the deficit by $1.4 trillion,” said Russ Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget.
Democrats are sounding the alarm. A new analysis by Yale and the University of Pennsylvania warned the bill could cause over 51,000 preventable deaths by slashing healthcare funding.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Donald Trump and his so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ is ugly to its very core.” In a surprising turn, he later added on X, “I didn’t think it was imaginable but … I AGREE WITH ELON MUSK.”
Senator Bernie Sanders joined in, writing, “Musk is right: this bill IS a ‘disgusting abomination’. We shouldn’t give $664 billion in tax breaks to the 1%. We shouldn’t throw 13.7 million people off of Medicaid. We shouldn’t cut $290 billion from programs to feed the hungry.”
