Published on June 9, 2025 by Ruta Deshpande, Deftech Analyst
Elon Musk didnât hold back in his criticism of Trumpâs proposed $4 trillion tax-and-spending plan. Taking to X, he labeled it a âdisgusting abominationâ and a âDebt Slavery Bill,â arguing that the measure would dangerously inflate the national deficit. Musk warned that the legislation represents fiscal recklessness on an unprecedented scale and could plunge future generations into economic bondage. He framed the bill as a betrayal of taxpayers and economic sanity.
In response to Muskâs scathing comments, Donald Trump threatened to cancel all federal contracts and subsidies connected to SpaceX and Tesla. This included billions of dollars in revenue tied to both NASA collaborations and Department of Defense contracts. Trump accused Musk of political disloyalty and suggested the CEO was endangering national priorities for personal reasons. The move, if executed, could severely disrupt space operations and the broader electric vehicle sector in the U.S.
Escalating tensions even further, Musk claimed on X that Donald Trumpâs name appears in the classified documents related to Jeffrey Epsteinâs network. He alleged that the former presidentâs association with Epstein had been intentionally concealed and that the public deserved transparency. This explosive allegation sparked a media firestorm, with global news outlets scrambling to verify the claim. Muskâs post marked a sharp shift from policy disagreements to deeply personal and reputational attacks.
Dismissing the accusations, Trump fired back by accusing Musk of suffering from âTrump derangement syndrome.â He implied that Muskâs opposition wasnât grounded in logic or policy concerns but driven by emotional instability and resentment. Trump went further, suggesting Muskâs fury was tied to the billâs provisions reducing subsidies for electric vehiclesâprograms that had disproportionately benefited Tesla. He painted Muskâs outrage as hypocritical and tied to lost financial advantages rather than public good.
In an unprecedented move, Musk issued a stark warning: if the spending cuts were approved, SpaceX might decommission its Crew Dragon capsule. The spacecraft currently serves as NASAâs main transport to the International Space Station. Musk said that continued support was essential for sustaining domestic human spaceflight. Without Crew Dragon, NASA could be forced to rely on Russian Soyuz missions once again, effectively undoing years of efforts toward American launch independence.
While addressing media at a summit alongside Germanyâs chancellor, Trump said he was âvery disappointedâ in Elon Muskâs recent behavior. He described the SpaceX and Tesla CEO as greedy, ungrateful, and disloyal. Trump emphasized that his administration had previously gone to great lengths to support Muskâs ventures. Now, seeing that support repaid with personal attacks and political defiance, Trump expressed regret over extending any form of government aid to Muskâs enterprises.
In another bold claim, Musk reminded his followers that he had helped Trump significantly during the 2020 election. He argued that without his supportâparticularly via amplified social media messaging and alignment on economic issuesâTrump might have lost by a wider margin. Musk said he believed Trump had forgotten who was in his corner during the most crucial political moments. He framed his recent criticisms as rooted in principle, not revenge.
Musk didnât limit his opposition to Trump alone. In a post widely shared across platforms, he called on American voters to remove every politician who supports the proposed tax-and-spending bill. Musk framed the legislation as a coordinated betrayal of public interest, suggesting both parties had lost touch with economic reality. He argued that the only way to restore sanity was to vote out those complicit in creating what he labeled âfiscal slavery.â
In a round of interviews with conservative media outlets, Trump labeled Muskâs recent behavior as âerraticâ and âself-serving.â He accused the billionaire of throwing a tantrum now that federal support programs might no longer benefit his companies. Trump said Musk was acting purely out of self-interest and that his ideological positioning shifted depending on what affected his bottom line. The former president framed Musk as a businessman unwilling to play fair when the rules changed.
Capping off his series of jabs, Musk posted that the battle over the tax-and-spending plan wasnât about personal egos but about power. âThis is establishment versus the people,â he wrote, positioning himself as a defender of common taxpayers against entrenched political elites. Musk said he viewed the bill as the latest in a long pattern of decisions made by politicians to protect themselves while exploiting public funds. He urged citizens to push back hard.
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