The world’s richest man and the US president have traded insults over Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has stepped up his criticism of United States President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill and renewed his call for a new political party.
Musk’s criticism of Trump’s 940-page “Big, Beautiful Bill“, which proposes tax breaks and sweeping cuts to healthcare and food programmes, has been met with strong criticism from the Democratic Party as well as some members of Trump’s Republican Party.
In early June, Musk, a major campaign donor to Trump and a former key aide, called the bill a “disgusting abomination”, leading to a public falling out with the Republican president.
The two then appeared to cool tensions, with Trump telling reporters that he wished Musk well, while the latter wrote on X that he regretted having gone “too far”.
But as US Senators gathered to vote on amendments to the bill on Monday, Musk ramped up his criticism once again, saying lawmakers who had campaigned on cutting spending but backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame!”
“And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk said.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO called for a new political party, saying the bill’s massive spending indicated “that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”
“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” he wrote.
Trump’s DOGE suggestion
Trump hit back at Musk on Tuesday, stating that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – which Musk had previously led – should review the subsidies that Musk’s companies have received, to save the federal government “BIG” money.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
In response to Trump’s post, Musk posted on his own platform, X, saying, “I am literally saying CUT IT ALL. Now.”
Hitting the debt ceiling is the only thing that will actually force the government to cut waste and fraud.
That’s why the debt ceiling legislation exists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2025
It remains unclear how much sway Musk has over the US Congress or what effect his statements might have on the bill’s passage.
But Republicans have expressed concern that his on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
Bill Schneider, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera it would likely be difficult for Musk to establish a viable political coalition consisting of the bill’s opponents.
“Elon Musk is a billionaire. There are not enough billionaires to form a party in the US, even if they are unhappy with President Trump,” Schneider told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.
“Now, he has issues with Trump, who is not a very popular figure. He has a lot of opponents, a lot of critics, particularly among women in the US,” he added.
“Republicans, almost all of whom are likely to support this particular bill, are very worried about how much debt it’s creating because of the huge tax cuts. Democrats are worried about the dangers to the safety net. It’s kind of hard to put those two worries, those two constituencies, together into one political party.”
