Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is vowing to fund primary challengers against GOP lawmakers who support President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill.
Musk has embarked on an intermittent weeks-long rampage against Trump’s sweeping tax relief and immigration bill since departing his role as chief of the president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in May. He escalated his criticism of the massive budget package Monday, pledging to end the political careers of GOP lawmakers who vote “yes” on the president’s landmark bill.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” the former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief wrote Monday afternoon on his social media platform X. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Musk, the founder and CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, spent more than a quarter of billion dollars in support of Trump’s 2024 presidential election effort and those of other down-ballot GOP candidates. The nearly $300 million he spent in support of GOP candidates made the billionaire the largest donor during the 2024 election cycle.
Musk’s public broadside against the legislative centerpiece of Trump’s second term is the latest indication of his deteriorating relationship with the president and the Republican Party. The White House has urged GOP lawmakers to throw their support behind the president’s bill, arguing that failure to do so would constitute the “ultimate betrayal.” Trump is demanding the bill on his desk by July 4th, so he can sign the bill into law as a symbolic gesture in honor of America’s birthday.
The Senate’s 940-page bill combines a staggering number of the president’s priorities into one budget package. Notable provisions include a permanent extension of the president’s 2017 tax cuts, historic boosts in funding for immigration enforcement and national defense as well as reforms to Medicaid to slow the growth of entitlement program spending.
The billionaire entrepreneur has excoriated Trump’s domestic policy bill for incorporating a $5 trillion hike in the debt ceiling, which Musk has compared to “debt slavery.” Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie have pledged to oppose the president’s budget bill, citing the multi-trillion hike in the debt limit.
Musk also called for the creation of a new political party Monday focused on reining in government spending in response to GOP lawmakers incorporating a massive increase in the debt ceiling within their bill.
“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk wrote on X.
Congressional GOP leadership has countered that raising the debt limit is necessary to prevent the government defaulting on its debt.
Musk has also blasted GOP lawmakers for moving to slash green energy subsidies for wind and solar that were enacted under former President Joe Biden within the president’s landmark bill, calling the proposal “utterly insane and destructive.”
Tesla and its solar energy and battery storage division, Tesla Energy, would notably profit from continued subsidies for residential solar and electric vehicles (EVs). Despite Musk previously arguing for the elimination of all government subsidies, he privately lobbied Congress to preserve a $7500 EV tax credit that would benefit Tesla, the Daily Caller reported. Both chambers put the EV tax credit on the chopping block in their draft proposals despite Musk’s pleas.
Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno was puzzled over why Musk would not be supportive of the bill, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that the bill “actually cuts spending.”
“I’m not sure why he would be upset with the bill. It does a lot of great things,” Moreno said. “There isn’t even a final bill yet. I think it’s a little unfair to prejudge a bill that hasn’t passed.”
Republican West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice said Musk is a “good guy” and Congress should be thankful for the work he did with DOGE. He also, however, called out Musk’s ego over the post.
“I’m sure Elon has a real ego, and sometimes egos can really clash. The classiest thing in the world we could do is quit the food fight,” Justice told the DCNF.
Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin was quick to shut down the tweet, telling reporters, “I don’t think a single person is talking, not one person is talking about [the tweet], actually.”
The Senate version of the president’s “big, beautiful” bill could pass as early as Monday night. The House is eying a vote as early as Wednesday to consider the Senate-amended proposal.
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