The political alliance between billionaire businessman Elon Musk and President Donald Trump has hit a rough patch after Musk posted a flurry of criticisms to social media about the president’s endorsed federal budget bill for 2026 and other fiscal matters.
The legislation, dubbed “The Big Beautiful Bill” by Trump, was passed by the House in a narrow vote on May 22. As it awaits a vote by the Senate, tensions have run high in U.S. politics.
Musk’s discontent with the president comes shortly after his exit from the administration last week. Later, he sounded the alarm, arguing that the budget bill would increase the national deficit. In another X post on Tuesday, he called the bill “a disgusting abomination.”
Then on Thursday, Musk stated on his social media platform X that Trump’s tariffs “will cause a recession in the second half of this year.”
The statement comes shortly after the president’s 50% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum went into effect on Wednesday. Courts have attempted to block many of Trump’s other tariffs.
Supporters of the bill say it will greatly reduce taxes and provide significant border security investments. Responding to criticism from Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X defending his voting record and the budget bill.
“The Mike Johnson of 2023 is the SAME Mike Johnson who has always been a lifelong fiscal hawk – who now serves as Speaker and is implementing a multi-stage plan to get our country back to fiscal responsibility and extraordinary economic growth,” he stated. “It begins with the critically important One Big Beautiful Bill that includes the LARGEST mandatory spending cut to the federal government in history (by almost 400%), the LARGEST tax cut in history, the LARGEST investment in border security in a GENERATION, along with arguably the STRONGEST collection of pro-growth provisions EVER passed.”
According to reporting by The Hill, Trump has set a July Fourth “hard deadline” for Congress to pass the budget bill.
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