It looks like the honeymoon phase between U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk may be ending.
Their relationship had a rocky start to say the least.
Musk served on three different Trump advisory councils during his first term in office. However, after Trump announced that he was pulling America out of the Paris Climate Accords, Musk resigned in protest.
Musk met with Trump for the first time in the Oval Office in early 2020, according to a Politico report from earlier this year, just days before a global pandemic would shut the world down.
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Trump had received notice that Musk was planning to build Tesla’s next Gigafactory in Mexico instead of Texas and invited Musk to meet with him and his team to discuss his decision.
Musk reportedly called Trump “moron” behind his back during the meeting and insulted the decor of the White House. According to a second-hand telling in the Politico story, Musk compared it unfavorably to Chinese presidential palaces, saying, “I was just in China and man, their palaces just make the White House kind of look more like an outhouse.“
Meanwhile, Trump was even less impressed.
As he was gearing up to run for president in 2022, Trump posted a picture of that very Oval Office meeting with an extremely disparaging caption, basically calling Musk someone who wouldn’t survive without government subsidies.
Musk was very active on the campaign trail both before and after Trump’s election.
Elon Musk criticizes Trump’s big beautiful bill
Since then, Elon Musk has undergone an extreme political reawakening.
His politics have shifted to the right, leading him to spend an estimated $300 million to help elect a president whose climate policy is entirely antithetical to Musk’s belief system just a few short years ago.
Musk’s efforts during the campaign landed him an unofficial role in the president’s cabinet as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. This department aims to lower the deficit by rooting out government fraud, waste, and abuse.
Trump showered DOGE and Musk with vociferous praise during his State of the Union address for the savings he and his team found, and Musk has been a staple at Trump’s cabinet meetings.
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However, Musk’s latest comments about the presidential budget currently making its way through Congress are raising eyebrows.
“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful. But I don’t know if it could be both,” Musk told CBS News this week.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing. I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it could be both.”
Trump has called his budgetary proposal the “big beautiful bill.”
But while he campaigned heavily on balancing the federal budget, his first crack at it does anything but.
The bill includes a slate of tax cuts, including increases to the Social Security income tax deduction and breaks for tips and overtime, as well as a revamped State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction.
According to the Tax Foundation, the bill would increase the country’s 10-year budget deficit by $2.6 trillion while reducing federal tax revenue by $4.1 trillion.
In essence, it increases spending while taking in less income than the government already does.
While balancing the federal budget is obviously a sticking point for Musk, this isn’t the first time this year he has found himself contradicting the administration.
Elon Musk battles Donald Trump over tariffs
Cracks in Musk’s relationship with Trump began appearing once again in April while the administration was rolling out its tariff plan.
Musk took a shot at Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade advisor, on X.
This attack came after a somber Musk, a stark departure from the exuberant, childlike energy he displays on the political stage, was seen on video saying that he advised the President against tariffs.
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Navarro responded by telling Musk to keep his nose out of the administration’s business.
“Elon, when he is in his DOGE lane, is great… Elon sells cars, and he is in Texas assembling cars that have big parts from Mexico, China. The batteries come from Japan or China… and he is simply protecting his own interests, as any businessperson will do. We’re [the Trump Administration] more concerned about Detroit building Cadillacs with American engines.
Despite this tension, DOGE has undoubtedly been a positive for Musk and his business empire.
DOGE’s government cuts have largely benefited Elon Musk and his business empire, according to a Congressional report from the minority staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn).
The report claims Musk’s status as a “senior advisor to the President” shields him from the scrutiny that an official cabinet member vetted by Congress would receive.
Related: DOGE cuts are already saving Elon Musk billions
