Burning Bridges

Jun 3, 3:49 PM EDTbyVictor Tangermann

“Disgusting Abomination”: Cold War Between Musk and Trump Explodes Into Public

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.”

/ Future Society/ Doge/ Donald Trump/ Elon Musk

Image by Getty / Futurism

In a scorching tweet today, billionaire Elon Musk took aim at president Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” excorciating it as a “disgusting abomination” that will massively increase the federal budget deficit.

It was a startling escalation in tone following Musk’s high-profile departure from his position as a “special government employee” in Washington, DC, a six-month stint that has left swathes of the federal government in utter chaos.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk, who has had an extremely turbulent on-and-off-again bromance with the president, wrote. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

Musk first voiced his displeasure with the bill, which is expected to add a whopping $3.8 trillion to an already enormous $36 trillion of debt, last week during an interview with CBS News.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said.

The outburst marks an escalation in Musk’s once-cozy relationship with Trump. A clear rift has opened up between the two as Musk hobbles back to rule over his ailing businesses once again, with a literal black eye on his face.

The world’s most powerful man and its richest one had already been exchanging blow after blow, in a duel marked by passive-aggressive remarks, proxy battles, and possibly even physical altercations within the White House’s walls.

In an early warning sign in April, Musk lashed out at the architect of Trump’s catastrophic tariff policy, which was expected to hurt Tesla’s bottom line by throwing international supply lines into chaos.

Then late last month, he carefully set up his purported departure from the world of politics, proclaiming that he had “done enough” — a notable lack of evidence notwithstanding. Many Trump officials, who had to endure painful dad jokes and shouting matches, were delighted by the news.

Doubling down, Musk went on a media blitz last week to attempt to regain the appearance of a tech founder who cares about the firm’s day-to-day, while making characteristically overzealous predictions about SpaceX’s imminent Starship test launch immediately before yet another failure.

Musk’s almost year-long stint by the side of the president has proven nothing short of devastating for his businesses. Tesla, in particular, has been put through the wringer, with sales and earnings falling off a cliff as the company reckons with a tarnished brand brought on by its CEO’s tremendously unpopular embrace of far-right ideologies.

Trump doesn’t seem pleased with Musk’s insubordination. Despite telling reporters that Musk is “really not leaving,” his administration kicked Musk’s hand-picked candidate for NASA’s administrator role, SpaceX space tourist Jared Isaacman, to the curb in the wake of the latest drama.

It was an extremely surprising move, ignoring the tremendous amount of goodwill and support Isaacman had amassed in Washington and strongly suggesting an act of retribution.

Whether Musk will indeed be going “back and forth” to the White House is uncertain at best. As the Wall Street Journal reported last week, Musk has yet to make good on a third of the $300 million he committed to get Trump elected.

And even a broken clock is right twice a day. A furious Musk is now railing against a spending bill that’s bound to force Congress to raise the debt ceiling, negating all the largely senseless cost-cutting the billionaire’s DOGE orchestrated for months.

In short, it’s no wonder Musk has had enough and is walking. The emerging tensions between him and the president are bound to continue escalating as the billionaire slowly wakes from his MAGA stupor and realizes that his efforts in DC have not only been a colossal waste of time, but that they’ve dealt irreparable harm to his business interests as well.