Geline Salac

Musk blasts Trump mega-bill as a 'disgusting abomination'

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<p>WASHINGTON - Elon Musk on Tuesday hammered US President Donald Trump&#x27;s proposed spending bill as a &quot;disgusting abomination&quot; as tensions between the pair burst into the open following the tech billionaire&#x27;s White House exit.</p><p>Musk left his role as an official government employee last week, lauded by Trump for spearheading a federal spending cuts program, but disagreements between the duo have been building.</p><div><br/></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1928545825459667391&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-06-03T21%3A06%3A45.904609%3Ab46a9fa0-ebc0-467c-a0a0-6cc310a92295%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=01880456b0540058b2822e93024e3aa2bcd4acf0&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:702px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1928545825459667391"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><p>&quot;This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,&quot; Musk posted on X, in by far his most caustic remarks on Trump&#x27;s spending plans.</p><p>&quot;Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong.&quot;</p><p>It was not Musk&#x27;s first comments on Trump&#x27;s so-called &quot;big, beautiful bill&quot; which is set to add $3 trillion to US deficits over a 10-year horizon, despite deep cuts to health and food aid programs.</p><p>But Musk&#x27;s previous criticism was restrained, with the ex-head of Trump&#x27;s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force offering only that it <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/28/musk-disappointed-by-trump-bill-in-rare-break-with-us-president-0116">undermined</a> his cost-cutting efforts.</p><p>On Tuesday he said that the bill -- being considered by Congress -- would burden &quot;citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.&quot;</p><p>The escalation in rhetoric indicated bitter hostilities between the White House and Musk, who donated almost $300 million to Trump&#x27;s election campaign but has recently voiced frustrations.</p><p>&quot;The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill, it doesn&#x27;t change his opinion,&quot; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a rapid response to Musk&#x27;s tweet.</p><p>&quot;This is one big, beautiful bill, and he&#x27;s sticking to it.&quot;</p><p>As the world&#x27;s richest person bowed out of his role as Trump&#x27;s cost-cutter-in-chief, their relationship appeared on an even keel as the Republican hailed his fellow billionaire&#x27;s &quot;incredible service.&quot;<strong><br/></strong></p><div><strong>- Once inseparable -</strong></div><p>Trump even insisted that Musk was &quot;really not leaving&quot; after a turbulent four months in which the South African born tycoon cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies and slashed foreign aid.</p><p>Musk was once almost inseparable from Trump, glued to his side on Air Force One, Marine One, in the White House and at Trump&#x27;s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H2cgHOweIvA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>The right-wing magnate&#x27;s DOGE led an ideologically-driven rampage through the federal government, with its young &quot;tech bros&quot; slashing tens of thousands of jobs.</p><p>But DOGE&#x27;s achievements fell far short of Musk&#x27;s original goal of saving $2 trillion dollars.</p><p>The DOGE website claims to have saved taxpayers about eight percent of the $2 trillion figure so far -- $175 billion -- and fact checkers even see that claim as dubious, given previous serious inaccuracies in its accounting.</p><p>But the non-governmental &quot;Musk Watch DOGE Tracker&quot; puts the verifiable figure at $16 billion -- less than one percent of the goal.</p><p>Tesla shareholders called for Musk to return to work as sales slumped and protests targeted the electric vehicle maker, while SpaceX had a series of fiery rocket failures.</p><p>ft-dk/bgs</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1kn21NmBmyA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Elon Musk on Tuesday hammered US President Donald Trump's proposed spending bill as a "disgusting abomination" as tensions between the pair burst into the open following the tech billionaire's White House exit.</p>

Elon Musk on Tuesday hammered US President Donald Trump's proposed spending bill as a "disgusting abomination" as tensions between the pair burst into the open following the tech billionaire's White House exit.