With the “big and beautiful” budget bill passed by the Senate, billionaire Elon Musk, who strongly opposed the bill, declared his intention to “go it alone” and engage in a direct political battle with Trump.
Firstly, on social media, he continuously criticized the Republican senators and declared, “If this is the last thing I do in this world, they (the Republicans voting) will lose their primary next year.” Musk also said, “(If) the crazy spending bill gets passed, ‘The America Party’ will be established the next day.”
In the wee hours of the night, Trump responded on social media, making a strong statement, threatening to use the government efficiency department (DOGE) created by Musk to deal with Musk, saying, “Without subsidies, Elon might have to shut down and return to South Africa. Without rocket launches, satellites, and electric vehicles, our country could save a significant amount of wealth.” At the end of the post, Trump emphasized again in capital letters: “Save a lot of money! (BIG MONEY TO BESAVED!)”
On July 1st local time, the “big and beautiful” bill was narrowly passed by the Senate with Vice President Pence’s one-vote margin. Musk’s “The America Party” had not yet been born. However, Trump did not let up on Musk. That afternoon, he told the media that he would “have to think about” expelling Musk from the country.
The conflict between Musk and Trump over the “big and beautiful” bill became public in May this year. At that time, American media sources close to both parties reported that Musk felt “sad” because Trump did not consider his interests; Trump, on the other hand, felt “angry” at Musk’s public criticism.
Later, Musk took responsibility for his actions and seemed to ease their relationship until another argument broke out just before the bill’s passage.
On June 21, local time, in Burlington, North Carolina, a supporter of Trump adjusted Musk’s cardboard figure at the “Trump Carnival” event. Photo/Visual China
“Political Accounts” vs “Business Accounts”
Musk claimed that his opposition to the “Big and Beautiful” bill was based on its record-breaking increase in the debt ceiling, significantly increasing the country’s fiscal deficit, which completely contradicted the Republican Party’s longstanding advocacy for cutting government spending. “If you vote for the ‘Debt Slavery’ bill, how can you dare to claim to be a member of the Liberal Caucus?”
Regardless of the bill’s pros and cons, such bills indeed run counter to the Republican Party’s traditional stance. However, after rallying around Trump, the vast majority of Republicans have silently abandoned their political views, turning into unconditional supporters of Trump.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Rubio, who once firmly supported Ukraine, and Vice President Pence, who held isolationist foreign policy positions, even hesitated to express dissent when Trump’s actions went against their long-held principles. Even intelligence director Ghabrial and others who were clearly alienated from Trump, considering their own political futures, did not throw caution to the wind.
However, Musk differs from these individuals. He resembles Trump during his first presidential term in 2017: almost completely oblivious to Washington politics, yet deeply disdainful of everything related to “bureaucrats.” Moreover, the “Big and Beautiful” bill harms his direct business interests.
Musk stated that the reduction in electric vehicle subsidies and tax credits under the “Big and Beautiful” bill was not the reason he opposed the bill. However, he did complain about the bill providing subsidies to industries past and severely damaging future industries.
Furthermore, according to American media reports, over the past few months, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla has been funding lobbying efforts against Congressional Republicans in an attempt to change relevant provisions in the bill.
The issue of electric vehicle subsidies is not the sole reason for Musk’s interests being harmed. Musk had hoped that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would use his “Starlink” system for air traffic control, but was politely declined; Musk has been lobbying for Trump to choose Isaacman as the new NASA administrator, but Trump withdrew the nomination in May.
Clearly, there have been multiple instances where Musk and Trump have diverged on interests. “Trump needs to please those workers who were abandoned in the rust belt,” said Bao Dou Ge, a senior researcher at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointing out that Trump’s political interests dictate that he must disregard Musk’s commercial interests. In the early hours of July 1st, in response to Musk’s posts, Trump also specifically appealed to his supporters: “Not everyone needs an electric car!”
Regarding the NASA administrator’s race, insiders within the government say that Republicans believe that businessman Isaacman is not sufficiently “loyal,” which is the most important criterion for selecting “Trump 2.0.” Additionally, the withdrawal of this nomination is related to President Joe Biden’s Office of Personnel Management director Sergio Gor, who has always believed that Musk influenced the internal control over personnel nominations within Trump’s team.
Analysts point out that others can tolerate Trump’s variable emotions and views because everyone is calculating “political accounts,” as long as Trump maintains strong support among Republican voters, it is “profitable”; whereas Musk calculates “commercial accounts”: only by making Isaacman the head of NASA, SpaceX can secure more government orders.
Whether it’s the NASA administrator’s nomination or the “Bigger, Better, Faster” bill, the economic damage to Musk will be substantial and swift.
Interestingly, regardless of what Musk himself explains, there is a prevailing view in American politics that the fundamental reason for Musk’s falling out with Democrats is commercial interests. During the Obama administration, Democrats pushed NASA to cancel the space shuttle and its own large rocket program, shifting the construction and manned spaceflight tasks to private companies. This move was opposed by Republicans but supported by Musk.
By the time of the Biden administration, Musk believed that NASA’s government procurement projects favored traditional partners like Boeing, treating SpaceX as “unfair,” but the Biden administration firmly denied such accusations. At the same time, Trump showed strong interest in Musk’s space plans.
The story that followed was well-known: Musk spent over $275 million in support of Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, personally endorsing them.
Now, betting on Trump has also turned out to be a mistake. What will Musk do next? Most analysts believe that Trump, based on his “political scorecard,” will not heed Musk’s interference. In the eyes of the president, he could easily threaten to cancel billions of dollars in government contracts under his company’s name, even forcing Musk to “shut down the company and return to South Africa,” which would only further highlight Trump’s leadership as president.
Unable to stand up to Trump, Musk has repeatedly declared his intention to establish a “new party that cares about the people,” but most analysts believe this is not feasible nor possible: Trump has a solid base within the Republican Party. Attempting to completely part ways politically with Trump not only fails to create an effective “third force” but also risks greater business setbacks for Musk.
Musk, who had already expressed dissatisfaction with Trump due to commercial interests, must now defend his business interests. A detail is that in early June, Tesla’s stock price plummeted by 14% after Musk and Trump publicly clashed. On June 30th and July 1st, as Musk threatened to “go it alone,” Tesla experienced consecutive declines of 9% over two days.
This means that besides making a public apology and showing goodwill towards Trump again, Musk seems to have no better options. After Trump’s counterattack, Musk wrote on social media on July 1st: “It’s really tempting to escalate the situation, but I will restrain myself now.”
By Caoran (caoran@chinanews.com.