Elon Musk Condemns $4 Trillion Spending, Bows Out of U.S. Government Role

Elon Musk has publicly disagreed with his erstwhile ally for the first time, criticizing Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” as a threat to the nation’s financial stability.
Musk, who is renowned for leading SpaceX and Tesla, reportedly expressed worries that the law will worsen the deficit and jeopardize the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut government spending.
In an interview with CBS News, Musk, a longtime Trump admirer and significant contributor to his 2024 reelection campaign, spoke out against the enormous spending plan.

In the interview, which was broadcast on Tuesday, Musk criticized the law for perhaps making the country’s budget imbalance worse.

Musk expressed disappointment about the hefty spending bill, saying it undermines the work being done by the DOGE team and actually deepens the budget deficit. The DOGE, which Musk had led, was in charge of cutting government expenditures, including firing thousands of federal workers.

Musk also discussed the conflict between the bill’s massive spending and his attempts to reduce unnecessary government spending. Musk had previously participated in Trump’s government efficiency initiatives.

In my opinion, a bill can be either large or exquisite. However, I am uncertain if it can be both. The whole interview will air on Sunday. Musk said, “That’s my personal opinion.”

The package, which passed the US House of Representatives last week and is now headed to the Senate, has substantial spending and tax savings in addition to provisions that opponents claim may severely impair healthcare and increase the national deficit by $4 trillion over the course of the next ten years.

By stressing that the “Big Beautiful Bill” was not included in the yearly federal budget and that cuts to DOGE would need to be handled separately, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller helped the White House minimize any conflicts over government expenditure in response to Musk’s remarks.

Miller emphasized that a separate legislative process would be necessary for any reductions to the federal bureaucracy on Musk’s social media account, 𝕏.

Musk’s comments show his mounting annoyance at the difficulties he encountered while leading DOGE. The ingrained bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., was criticized by him, and he said that his own inexperience with the political climate in Washington made it harder to accomplish his goals.

“The situation with federal bureaucracy is much worse than I realized,” Musk said. Although I believed there were issues, it is, to put it mildly, a difficult task to try to make things better in Washington, DC.

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Musk admitted that his efforts were not entirely successful, even though he oversaw the huge downsizing of government agencies and the termination of tens of thousands of workers.

Due to demonstrators targeting Tesla dealerships and even arsonists setting fire to some electric vehicles, his time with DOGE also had a detrimental effect on his enterprises, resulting in a decline in revenues.

Following his departure from DOGE, Musk returned to SpaceX, where he has encountered numerous obstacles in his attempts to colonize Mars. Tuesday saw the company’s prototype Starship explode over the Indian Ocean, marking the most recent of these mishaps.

After spending a large amount of his wealth—roughly $250 million—in favor of Trump, Musk declared last week that he will reduce his political expenditures in light of his involvement in politics and its effect on his personal riches.