WASHINGTON — Just days after he left his powerful position as one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, Elon Musk is orchestrating a pressure campaign to sink the mammoth tax and spending package that is the centerpiece of the president’s policy agenda.
Musk used X, his social media site, on Wednesday to implore Americans to call Congress and urge it to “kill” the bill that Trump hails as “big” and “beautiful.”
He also urged lawmakers to rewrite the bill from scratch, putting him squarely at odds with Trump, who had invited him into Cabinet meetings and empowered him to dismantle whole agencies and shrink the government workforce.
The bill, which has already passed the House, faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where just four Republican defections would spell defeat.
It doesn’t sit well with Trump world that Musk is the messenger. Trump is considering when and how to respond to Musk’s gambit, a White House official said. He was “caught off guard” but “not entirely surprised” by Musk’s opposition, a senior official said.
Trump had sent Musk off in style, giving him a golden key and staging a goodbye ceremony in the Oval Office that the media covered live.
“The president wanted to be a nice guy,” the senior official said.
Musk’s posts come a day after his surprising break with Trump over the bill’s merits. On Tuesday, he called the measure a “disgusting abomination,” warning that it would push the nation deeper into debt.
Having elevated Musk and made him a prized sidekick, Trump may discover that the world’s richest man is a potential nemesis beyond his control.
A White House official downplayed the notion of a falling-out with Musk.
“Everyone here in a senior role understands who Elon Musk is, understands how he acts, understands how he plays,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There’s been no surprise when it comes to Elon Musk, because he’s been such a friend to the administration.
“And we all know this is coming from a place of business and is not personal.”
But people in Trump’s orbit were angry that Musk skewered the bill. They were particularly outraged by his not-so-veiled warning that Republicans who vote for it could lose their jobs come November 2026, a person familiar with the matter said. That assertion came after Musk said late last month that he would do “a lot less” political spending going forward.
A Republican lawmaker, in a private text chain with colleagues, wrote sarcastically of Musk: “Team Player.”
Trump is normally quick to clap back at those who publicly oppose his interests. When Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., objected Tuesday on CNBC that the bill would inflate the national debt, Trump swiftly denounced him.
“The people of Kentucky can’t stand him,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
In the case of Musk, Trump so far has been silent. The disparate treatment may be rooted in cold political reality. Paul doesn’t have a national following, while Musk, with his capacity to influence the midterm elections, is someone Trump may not wish to antagonize.
Musk spent more than $250 million to boost Trump last year and is free to pour money into a midterm campaign season in which control of Congress is up for grabs. If Democrats seize the majority, they could saddle Trump with serial investigations and perhaps impeachment proceedings in the back half of his term.
Republican lawmakers, too, trod carefully Wednesday when they were asked about Musk’s evisceration of Trump’s key legislative priority. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana quipped: “Well, let me say this about Elon. I wish he wouldn’t sugarcoat stuff.”
“I think he’s really smart,” Kennedy added. “I think he’s entitled to his opinion. He’s frustrated. I think he believes, in my judgment correctly, that we’re quickly becoming debt slaves.”
Still, Musk’s apostasy shows the inherent risks in Trump’s executive style. As a centibillionaire, Musk never fit neatly in the Trump administration’s chain of command. He squabbled with at least two Cabinet secretaries and found that his private interests clashed at times with Trump’s policy goals.
Trump’s bill would curtail the electric vehicle and residential solar tax credits that are important to Musk’s Tesla car and clean energy divisions. The measure would also impose a new annual $250 fee on EV drivers.
Musk spoke to Trump personally about extending the electric vehicle credit, a person familiar with the matter said.
He also pressed some senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill in recent weeks — before his recent X posts — including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to keep tax credits in the bill that would incentivize electric vehicle purchases, two people familiar with the conversations said.
The tax credits had been eliminated to get the most conservative House members on board as part of the delicate negotiations to ensure the bill’s passage.
“Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America’s energy independence and the reliability of our grid — we urge the senate to enact legislation with a sensible wind down” of the credits, Tesla Energy posted on X on May 28, the day Musk officially left his government role.
In opposing the bill, Musk has amplified a point that the more fiscally conservative Republicans also find troubling: The measure would greatly add to America’s whopping debt. A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office holds that the House-passed version of the bill would inflate the debt by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.
Paul, the senator from Kentucky, wrote Tuesday that he wants trillions in new debt “removed” from the measure and that four of his colleagues “feel this way.”
An open question is the degree to which Americans care what Musk thinks. His public approval rating was underwater amid his association with the Department of Government Efficiency and the drastic cuts that left many government workers suddenly unemployed. An NBC News poll in March found that 51% of registered voters held negative views of Musk, with only 39% viewing him positively.
Lawmakers seeking campaign donations may be solicitous of Musk and the news media may treat him with outsize interest because of the role Trump gave him, but can he shape public opinion on controversial legislation?
Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House speaker, suggested the answer is no.
“I haven’t seen any” public constituency for Musk, Gingrich told NBC News. “If you can find one, call me.”
“I’m a big admirer of his as an entrepreneur, but he never understood the political business, and he doesn’t now,” he added.
That having been said, “I’m sure no one on the Trump team thinks it’s helpful,” Gingrich added.
Democrats are delighted by Musk’s dissent and the rift it exposes inside GOP ranks.
“Musk is right about this,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told NBC News. “He’s been wrong about a whole lot of other things.”
