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President Donald Trump and White House aides are irritated with Elon Musk’s growing attacks on Republicans’ megabill — but they’re also navigating the drama with extra caution.
Musk took officials by surprise with what’s become a two-day-plus social media campaign against the “big, beautiful bill” that Trump is focused on getting through Congress. On Wednesday Musk urged his followers to call lawmakers to “KILL the BILL” and reposted criticisms of the package as Democrats continued touting their unlikely new ally.
Trump is “not delighted that Elon did a 180 on that,” as House Speaker Mike Johnson put it on Wednesday. A person with knowledge of the situation, meanwhile, described the attitude inside the White House as “furious.”
Yet it’s clear that Trump and his team are holding off from training their full fire on Musk: Trump hasn’t commented on the former DOGE leader’s pushback this week, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump was aware of Musk’s view but “it doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”
White House officials maintain that Trump and Musk have a good relationship, though it’s unclear whether they’ve spoken in recent days. The president’s allies are eager to stay focused on getting the massive tax-cuts and spending plan into law, a task that won’t get any easier if they go after Musk directly.
“They’re trying to kind of keep this under wraps a bit, and just trying to push through it,” one person close to the White House noted. “They don’t want any big public fight or dispute.”
One White House official told Semafor that Trump’s sole goal is getting the bill passed, rather than trading online barbs with his onetime close adviser. This official argued that people attempting to read Trump’s mood about Musk “should allow the president to speak for himself.”
Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is known internally as a low-drama figure; she guided him through the 2024 campaign while trying to minimize internal conflicts that might spill out into public view. But some close to the administration acknowledge that’s been tough when it comes to Musk, whose 130 days inside the administration featured spats with Cabinet officials and public attacks on another top Trump adviser.
Musk “put a lot of money into the campaign,” the person close to the White House said. “There is this certain relationship between him and the president. There’s a lot of different angles here that make it pretty difficult.”
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Musk’s central critique of Trump’s bill is the $3 trillion-plus in added debt it would incur, as well as its debt ceiling hike. The White House takes issue with the former argument, predicting that a long-term extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts would ultimately produce enough growth to mitigate the hefty deficit increase it would create.
Some people close to Trump, meanwhile, argue Musk is criticizing the megabill to distract from his failure to reach his promised goal of $1 trillion in cuts at DOGE. Others inside and around the administration believe Musk’s fight against the bill stems from retaliation for multiple perceived slights, including Republicans’ omission of electric vehicle tax credits he’d pushed for.
Whatever the reason, Musk’s attacks have snarled already tricky talks with GOP senators who are working on their version of the bill. But it’s still not clear whether Musk’s posting against the legislation is a real problem for the party or more of a nuisance.
“I don’t think very many senators are that interested in what Elon has to say about it. It’s amusing, but we’re serious policy makers. We have to govern,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., after Musk’s latest broadside.
Shelby’s view
It’s not surprising that Trump and White House officials are pretty much ignoring Musk’s criticisms.
The administration took pains to send Musk off on a positive note last week, holding a press conference and giving him a metaphorical key to the White House after he began expressing frustration with how the government operates during press interviews.
And Trump’s aides are focused on the lawmakers who control the megabill’s fate: The president met on Wednesday with members of the Senate Finance Committee, and White House officials are fanning out for media hits this week about the legislation.
As the White House official put it, “there’s no bigger bully pulpit than” the president’s.
But Trump is Trump, undeniably aware of grievances being aired within his inner circle, and there’s always a chance Musk pushes him too far — though that’s the last thing most in the White House want to see happen.
Burgess Everett contributed reporting.
Notable
- Tesla stock is continuing to dip as Musk turns his attention to the megabill, per Yahoo Finance.