Billionaire supporter Elon Musk has hit out at President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending bill, describing it as a “disgusting abomination”, in a widening rift between the two allies.
The budget – which includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and more defence spending while also allowing the US government to borrow more money – was passed by the House of Representatives last month.
“Shame on those who voted for it,” Musk said in a post on X about the legislative linchpin of Trump’s second-term agenda.
The tech billionaire left the administration abruptly last week after 129 days working to cut costs with his team, known as Doge.
The comments mark his first public disagreement with Trump since leaving government, after having previously called the plan “disappointing”.
The South African-born tech billionaire’s time in the Trump administration came to an end on 31 May, although Trump said that “he will, always, be with us, helping all the way”.
In its current form, the bill – which Trump refers to as the “big beautiful bill” – has been estimated to increase the budget deficit – the difference between what the government spends and the revenue it receives – by about $600bn (£444bn) in the next fiscal year.
In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Musk said that the “outrageous, pork-filled” spending bill will “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America [sic] citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt”.
In American politics “pork” refers to spending on projects in lawmakers’ constituencies.
Musk, who had previously vowed to fund campaign challenges against any Republican that votes against Trump’s agenda, added a political warning in another post.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” he wrote.
Asked about Musk’s comments soon after the first post, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “the President already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
“This is one, big, beautiful bill,” she added. “And he’s sticking to it.”
The legislation also pledges to extend soon-to-expire tax cuts passed during the first Trump administration in 2017, as well as an influx of funds for defence spending and to fund the administration’s mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
To the dismay of fiscal conservatives, it would lift the limit on the amount of money the government can borrow, known as the debt ceiling, to $4tn.
