The cracks are well and truly beginning to show in the Elon Musk–Donald Trump partnership, after the Tesla CEO said he was “disappointed” by the president’s spending bill—the showpiece of Trump 2.0.
Combined, the White House says, these policies will boost GDP by 2.6% to 3.2% in the long term and increase take-home pay for median-income households by $5,000 a year.
This is precisely where Musk has fallen out of love with Trump’s economic agenda, as it adds to the deficits of a nation already burdened with a $36.2 trillion debt bill.
Indeed DOGE’s cuts—which often proved unpopular and led to Musk’s private interests being targeted by critics—were expected by the Tesla CEO to ax around $1 trillion in spending.
If Trump’s bill, in its current form, does get approved by Congress, then it is likely to rapidly wipe out the cost efficiencies that cost Musk and Tesla dearly.
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk added. “But I don’t know if it can be both—personal opinion.”
The criticism comes as Musk has continued to step away from games of politics on the Hill and instead focus on the endeavors that made him the richest person on the planet. Already Musk had said he would be focused more on Tesla than his role in the Trump administration, a shift in tone following media reports that Trump had blocked the billionaire entrepreneur from high-profile national security meetings.
The White House did not respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
Musk also lamented the reaction to DOGE’s work, saying the department has become the scapegoat for any gripes with the new administration.
“People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool,” Musk told the WP.
