Trump-Musk Feud Escalates Over Spending Bill: 5 Things to Know

A public war of words erupted over the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

A public feud between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump took a turn for the worse on Thursday, with the tech billionaire claiming that the president wouldnโ€™t have won without him and the president suggesting that Muskโ€™s subsidies could be pulled.

Just moments before, President Trump told reporters in the White House that he was disappointed in Muskโ€™s comments about the One Big Beautiful Bill, which the Tesla CEO has harshly criticized on social media.

Trump Says Musk Subsidies Could be Terminated

Hours after the Oval Office comments, in a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that โ€œthe easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elonโ€™s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.โ€

He added that he โ€œwas always surprised that [President Joe] Biden didnโ€™t do it!โ€

About an hour later, Musk responded on X that SpaceX will start โ€œdecommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediatelyโ€ in response to Trumpโ€™s statement. The Dragon craft is used to transport cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS).

While the president didnโ€™t go into detail, Muskโ€™s companies including Tesla and SpaceX have received billions of dollars in government subsidies, tax credits, contracts, and loans over the years. A report from the Washington Post earlier this year said around $38 billion in government funding stretching back nearly 20 years has been given to Muskโ€™s companies.

In comments last year, Musk said subsidies make up only a small portion of Teslaโ€™s revenue and that SpaceX doesnโ€™t get any.

Do some research … SpaceX gets no subsidies and received half as much as Boeing for astronaut transport, but did 100 percent of the work,โ€ Musk wrote in response to an account that claimed those companies receive significant government funding.

โ€œAs for Tesla, take a minute to read our public filings and you will see that EV incentives represent a minor part of our revenue,โ€ he added. โ€œOn the other hand, oil & gas companies get massive tax breaks that exceed those given to the EV industry by several orders of magnitude. Wake up.โ€

Musk Says He Propped up Trump, GOP

That prompted a comment from Musk, who said that โ€œwithout me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51โ€“49 in the Senateโ€ in a post on X.

โ€œSuch ingratitude,โ€ he added.

Musk poured tens of millions of dollars into the 2024 presidential race after endorsing Trump, appearing alongside the Republican nominee in the closing weeks of the contest. President Trump named Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash billions of dollars in what the administration says is fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government.

Byย Jack Phillips

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