President Donald Trump said he is unsure of the future of his relationship with Elon Musk following the billionaire entrepreneur’s sharp criticism of the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump told the press. “Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump said. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Trump suggested Musk had turned against the bill because of cuts to the electric vehicle mandate. “He knew everything about it and he had no problem. But then all of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re gonna have to cut the EV mandate because that’s billions and billions of dollars, and it really is unfair.”
In recent days, Musk has taken to X to urge congress members to “KILL the BILL.”
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk wrote. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Trump said in the Oval Office Thursday that he has “always liked Elon” but was surprised to see criticism of the “incredible” bill. Trump said he would prefer Musk to criticize him than the bill because it’s the “biggest tax cut in history.”
Musk quickly responded to Trump’s statements, accusing the president of “ingratitude” for his work on Trump’s campaign.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote.
Trump had said that he would have won the election with or without Musk’s help.
“He actually went up and campaigned for me,” Trump said. “I think I would have won, Susie would say I would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway, even if the governor ran, the real governor, not the governor from Minnesota, who’s, I mean, he’s a sick puppy, that guy, that poor guy. Feel sorry for him, but they made a bad choice with him.”
Trump suggested Musk was bitter about losing his position of power in the administration.
“People leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile,” Trump said. “I don’t know what it is. It’s sort of trump derangement syndrome, i guess they call it. But we have it with others too. They leave, and they wake up in the morning, and the glamor is gone. The whole world is different, and they become hostile.”
