Photograph by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos
He was simply ready to depart the Oval Workplace to make his dislike public.
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Elon Musk has formally rage-quit his bromance with Donald Trump—and it solely took a pork-stuffed spending invoice to do it.
In a fiery June 3 put up on X, Musk didn’t maintain again: “I’m sorry, however I simply can’t stand it anymore. This large, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending invoice is a disgusting abomination. Disgrace on those that voted for it: you recognize you probably did fallacious. You understand it.”
The put up shortly racked up over 17 million views, 169,000 likes, and quite a lot of hypothesis about what this implies for the bromance that when outlined Trump’s second-term tech alliance.
“Disgrace on those that voted for it”
Musk’s last straw was seemingly Trump’s so-called “Huge Stunning Invoice,” a large $1.2 trillion omnibus spending package deal that handed with bipartisan assist and was signed into legislation simply days earlier than Musk’s put up.
Trump—by no means one to downplay branding—referred to as it “probably the most lovely, America First finances in historical past.” It consists of vital will increase in protection spending, sweeping subsidies for vitality and agriculture (together with fossil fuels), and beneficiant earmarks that reek of the precise “swamp” habits Trump as soon as vowed to empty.
Critics have pounced on the invoice as a pork-barrel feast, as has Musk, who has more and more positioned himself as a champion of fiscal restraint and authorities effectivity (regardless of benefiting from large authorities subsidies previously).
The tumultuous Trump-Musk love story
To grasp this breakup, we have to rewind a bit. Musk has lengthy had an advanced relationship with Trump. Throughout Trump’s first time period, Musk was a member of two of the administration’s advisory councils—till he give up over Trump’s choice to withdraw from the Paris Local weather Settlement.
However by the point 2024 rolled round, and Trump was charging towards a comeback, the 2 had seemingly buried the hatchet. Musk, disillusioned with the Biden administration and more and more vocal about “woke thoughts virus” politics, discovered himself aligned with many in Trump’s orbit.
Musk’s platform gave Trump-friendly speaking factors algorithmic amplification, and his rising anti-establishment posture earned him factors with conservative influencers and media retailers. His willingness to embrace controversial figures and insurance policies turned X right into a tradition struggle battleground—and one that always favored the fitting.
In the meantime, Musk’s tenure because the head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) was as tumultuous because it was headline-grabbing. Appointed by Trump in January 2025, Musk took on the unpaid position with a mission to slash authorities waste, promising to save lots of taxpayers trillions.
His aggressive method led to mass layoffs, company closures, and a claimed $175 billion in financial savings—a determine met with skepticism resulting from potential offsets from authorized prices and lowered revenues.
Potential tech-bro blowback
This public rebuke isn’t nearly a spending invoice—it’s about Musk realizing that his proximity to energy has limits. The tech elite, lots of whom as soon as handled Trump’s second time period as a obligatory evil or perhaps a market alternative, are actually watching in horror because the administration swells the deficit and rewards particular pursuits.
His break with Trump could also be performative (as lots of his meltdowns are), or it may sign a much bigger realignment. However one factor’s clear: if Trump thought tech billionaires had been going to roll over and preserve boosting his sign, Musk simply despatched a loud and costly wake-up name.