 "Elon Musk speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington on Friday. AP File")
Elon Musk has sharply intensified his criticism of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending cut bill, calling it a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled … disgusting abomination” that will further widen the “already gigantic” budget deficit.
Taking to X, the billionaire, who only formally left his top role in the White House last week, wrote, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt,” he added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed aside the criticism.
“The President already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill and he’s sticking to it,” The Guardian quoted her as telling reporters on Tuesday.
It was not Musk’s first comments on Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” which is set to add $3 million to US deficits over a 10-year horizon, despite deep cuts to health and food aid programmes.
But Musk’s previous criticism was restrained, with the ex-head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force offering only that it undermined his cost-cutting efforts.
On Tuesday he said that the bill - being considered by Congress - would burden “citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
The escalation in rhetoric indicated bitter hostilities between the White House and Musk, who donated almost $300 million to Trump’s election campaign but has recently voiced frustrations.
Last week, Musk had sharply criticised Trump’s spending plan, saying he was “disappointed” with the response to the federal cost-cutting efforts of his signature “department of government efficiency” (Doge) that would increase the budget deficit.
In an interview with CBS News, he called the bill too expensive and a measure that would “undermine” his work to make the government more “efficient”.
With inputs from agencies