Let's show appreciation and gratitude towards each other's contributions on the board.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 14
Space Nazi, Elon Musk joins every other human being who can do math and condemns Trumps POS bill...
Elon Musk came out swinging against President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” on Tuesday, slamming the reconciliation package as a “disgusting abomination”
in a massive break from the president just days after stepping away from his role in the administration.
"I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. 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." Musk wrote on his social media platform X
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/03/elon-musk...PS In Trumps 1st term he ramped the deficit up to an unheard of $2 Trillion per year!
The national debt rose by $8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That amounts to $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country. (Including Babies!)
He also lost lost millions of American jobs. He was THE WORST JOBS PRESIDENT IN MODERN HISTORY. Sad!
"The amount he's added to the national debt is indecent." ~Mike Pompeo (Life long Republican with an IQ over 80.)
No. of Recommendations: 9
Wow - that is an extremely hot level of rhetoric for Musk to fire out there.
This was a bill that barely passed the House, and now Musk is out there telling his tens of millions of followers that the Congresscritters who voted for it did wrong - and know they did wrong? How on earth do all of them vote for it again when it comes back from conference committee?
No. of Recommendations: 2
Mike Pompeo (Life long Republican with an IQ over 80., but not by much)
No. of Recommendations: 3
This was a bill that barely passed the House, and now Musk is out there telling his tens of millions of followers that the Congresscritters who voted for it did wrong - and know they did wrong?
How on earth do all of them vote for it again when it comes back from conference committee?Excellent question.
Probably just lie about what's in the bill...
US HOUSE SPEAKER JOHNSON SAYS "MUSK'S COMMENTS ON BILL ARE VERY DISAPPOINTING" SAYS MUSK IS "TERRIBLY WRONG" ABOUT TAX BILL.
https://bsky.app/profile/fintwitter.bsky.social/po...
No. of Recommendations: 6
Probably just lie about what's in the bill...
US HOUSE SPEAKER JOHNSON SAYS "MUSK'S COMMENTS ON BILL ARE VERY DISAPPOINTING" SAYS MUSK IS "TERRIBLY WRONG" ABOUT TAX BILL.
Musk has a far bigger megaphone that Johnson does, so I don't think that's going to be effective.
It's going to be so very, very much harder to push Ron Johnson and the other fiscal hawks in the Senate off their position now. Speaker Johnson was making the pitch that the Senate needed to trim their ambitions so that the bill would be similar enough to the one that passed the House, so that it could pass the House again. Musk has irretrievably killed that argument. Johnson (and others) now know that there's zero chance that the bill would pass the House again unless it is significantly changed. If it goes back largely as is, you'll never get the Chip Roy's of the House to vote for it again - if they're going to get attacked no matter what they insist on (by Trump or Musk), they'll insist on what matches their political brand again.
No. of Recommendations: 2
SAYS MUSK IS "TERRIBLY WRONG" ABOUT TAX BILL.
Easy to fix. Add requirement about tax revenues:
"If federal tax revenues from tariffs are LESS than needed to fully fund the US govt AND the tax refunds promised to taxpayers, then the appropriations for the military shall be reduced and diverted, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, to increase the non-military appropriation(s) until they are all at the projected level set by Congress in its budget."
No. of Recommendations: 1
musk is about to find out his megaphone is less impactive than the cult of trump.
his true believers are enjoined primarily via tesla shareholdings, and subsequent spinning of technofantasies.
the real reason for musk's outburst may be simple.
musk, after buying twitter for ~$50b to get trump elected, and then pumping in another few billions here and there, did not explicitly get his expected cut of taxpayer money for spaceX\starlink\xyz.
and in this matter, he is able to count money.
No. of Recommendations: 6
the real reason for musk's outburst may be simple.
musk, after buying twitter for ~$50b to get trump elected, and then pumping in another few billions here and there, did not explicitly get his expected cut of taxpayer money for spaceX\starlink\xyz.
and in this matter, he is able to count money.
I think it's different than that.
Musk believes that the government should spend a lot less than it does. He seems utterly confounded by the idea that anyone thinks that most government spending goes to things that are worthwhile. So he can't wrap his head around the idea that the things that make up nearly all government spending (defense, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) are politically untouchable because they have massive popular support. Therefore, there's no explanation for why the government is not drastically cutting spending except that government is corrupt, and has been captured by the people who benefit from that government waste.
Honestly, attacking the OBBB is far more likely to cost him money. He got plenty of dollar value from his influence in the government. So it's unlikely this is motivated by pique about not getting more, and in fact he's putting all his gains at risk by possibly alienating Trump.
No. of Recommendations: 1
i can agree that some of musk's views may not be about getting more personal wealth, but his ego is strongly tied to status perception and gains for his most beloved offspring...the corporate ones.
analogously, i believe to some extent, putin got bored with looting ~us$1trillion of russian national wealth, and became more engaged in his legacy being russian expansion. after all, every penny going towards the war (estimated ~30% gdp, mostly energy exports) could have easily been re-directed to him and his own cronies. but a few hundred billion just doesn't have the marginal utility it used to.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Wow - that is an extremely hot level of rhetoric for Musk to fire out there.
I'm waiting...surely Trump can't let this go unanswered.
No. of Recommendations: 4
I'm waiting...surely Trump can't let this go unanswered.
No, but it might not be fireworks. Trump knows how powerful Musk is. Musk can actually hurt Trump, politically. Trump has counterattacked most of his other opponents, because either: i) he can destroy them because they're vulnerable (like Liz Cheney) even if they would be otherwise sympathetic to GOP voters; or ii) the ones that are too strong to destroy, he benefits from the fight (like Harvard) because his base already hates them.
Musk falls into neither of those categories. So Trump has to respond, but he has to tread more delicately than he usually does.
No. of Recommendations: 2
am skeptical whether musk can damage trump politically. which magnate\celebrity\etc has done so far?
MAGA would simply unfollow musk were they instructed so, and all other mainstream media would curb free musk publicity.
the real reason conflict is unlikely is that musk is a\the top gop donor, whether it goes through trump discretion or not. yes, there may be tension would other gop scapegoat him on doge\budget\etc...
but its not only 1 less already donated dollar trump has to unclench. there permeates as impression that trump's association (or actual cahoots, such as starlink spending) with the world's wealthiest will result in an co-enrichment buddy system. but this may fade the longer it requires.
No. of Recommendations: 8
am skeptical whether musk can damage trump politically. which magnate\celebrity\etc has done so far?
Musk is richer and is more followed/more influential (especially among big swatches of the right wing) than any other celebrity. He's got twice the followers of any other person on Twitter, and far more reach than Trump has. I doubt very highly that too much of MAGA would unfollow Musk if instructed to - they'd probably tune in even more to watch the fight.
Trump can certainly attack Musk and perhaps hurt him, but unlike attacking someone like Tim Cook or Bezos or Zuckerberg that would cost him significantly among his own base. Musk can also counterattack in a way that would hurt Trump in his base that neither Cook or Bezos or Zuckerberg could, because Musk has high levels of trust and popularity among portions of the right wing (especially the very online right wing).
And perhaps more importantly, Musk can damage Trump politically by hurting his chances of getting the OBBB through Congress. Trump is uniquely vulnerable to "ordinary" politics right now, because this is perhaps the only time in the next four years that he actually needs something passed through Congress. The debt ceiling needs to be addressed, the tax cut expiration needs to be held off, and he needs a lot more money for ICE/border enforcement. If he can get the OBBB passed, he could happily spend the next four years ignoring Congress - but if it doesn't pass, he's going to have to keep working with them to get these things in other ways.
No. of Recommendations: 3
albaby,
believe me, i am enjoying this for as long as it lasts, but dont see much reality as they pretend to fight.
taking simpler explanations when they suffice; everything trump is financial corruption and\or publicity.
some supporting points :
- musk and trump are not attacking each other directly....how often does this happen? even trump's PR lie multiplier and axeman leavitt, who attacks the smallest perceived slight to trump, is trying to giggle it off.
- trump's entire career has dozens, if not hundreds, of people who disparaged him and his policies for a while and then became MAGA. also vice-versa. also multiple reversals.
- a good background on how trump stages much conflict for publicity is here :
https://kyla.substack.com/p/wweconomics-kayfabe-an...- musk has a history of increasing criticisms of projects after failures during his direct control. this time, musk is sensitive to the budget bill partially due to his insignificant fiscal impact w/doge, and partially because starlink has guaranteed benefit but spaceX does not.
- given trump's ability to deflect blame where he likes, i am unclear budget delay blame will fall only on musk (but probably biden), nor how much it really hurts trump unless the delay extends into 2026.
- this is not an election year. in 2026, many gop races will need musk's money, and trump will continue to want it so he can preserve his own 'donations'.
if, and only if, this battle turns real and escalates, will we see evidence from real fallout.
so far, both musk and trump have benefited greatly from their association, and i think they will likely come around to this again.
but if musk somehow loses interest in politics after 2025, both will claim a victory.
No. of Recommendations: 4
musk and trump are not attacking each other directly....how often does this happen? even trump's PR lie multiplier and axeman leavitt, who attacks the smallest perceived slight to trump, is trying to giggle it off.
Right. That supports the point that I was making earlier - that Musk can really hurt Trump if he wants to. Why else would Trump be handling him with kid gloves, when he never does that with people who defy him? That's how we know that Musk can damage Trump, if he decided to do that. I agree that Musk hasn't yet chosen to go after Trump personally. But he is screwing around with Trump's most important, and perhaps only, legislative priority.
given trump's ability to deflect blame where he likes, i am unclear budget delay blame will fall only on musk (but probably biden), nor how much it really hurts trump unless the delay extends into 2026.
It hurts Trump because it denies him things he needs. It's not a question of blame, it's a question of substance (rare, I know, but it happens).
Trump needs more funding for ICE in order to achieve his immigration enforcement goals. Miller's whipping ICE to the limit, they're pulling in resources from both the rest of law enforcement and the military, they're possibly already spending money they don't have appropriated, and they're still not getting anywhere close to where the Administration wants to be. And it's because they don't have the money to do it. Trump very much wants to go into the midterms having actually fulfilled his promise to dramatically increase the number of people arrested and deported from the interior, and he's not going to be able to do that unless he gets the OBBB passed relatively soon.
He also needs the tax rates extended and the debt limit increased. Failure to get those done with only GOP votes will be a big blow to Trump's agenda. Because all that is lumped into the OBBB (hence, the "O"), it's an all or nothing proposition right now - so the GOP has kind of boxed themselves into fighting about Medicaid and SALT rather than taking those things on their own.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Right. That supports the point that I was making earlier - that Musk can really hurt Trump if he wants to. Why else would Trump be handling him with kid gloves, when he never does that with people who defy him? That's how we know that Musk can damage Trump, if he decided to do that. I agree that Musk hasn't yet chosen to go after Trump personally.To quote Ron Burgundy, escalated quickly....
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/05/trump-musk-crazy-g...
