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 wouldn’t have won without him and the president suggesting that Musk’s subsidies could be pulled.
Just moments before, President Trump told reporters in the White House that he was disappointed in Musk’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 “the easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”
He added that he “was always surprised that [President Joe] Biden didn’t do it!”
About an hour later, Musk responded on X that SpaceX will start “decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately” in response to Trump’s statement. The Dragon craft is used to transport cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS).
While the president didn’t go into detail, Musk’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 Musk’s companies.
In comments last year, Musk said subsidies make up only a small portion of Tesla’s revenue and that SpaceX doesn’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,” Musk wrote in response to an account that claimed those companies receive significant government funding.
“As for Tesla, take a minute to read our public filings and you will see that EV incentives represent a minor part of our revenue,” he added. “On 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.”
Musk Says He Propped up Trump, GOP
That prompted a comment from Musk, who said that “without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51–49 in the Senate” in a post on X.
“Such ingratitude,” 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.
