Elon's opposition to Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
The richest man alive revealed his disappointment with the Trump administration and Congress's push for the omnibus bill.
President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” making its way through Congress is a flop with the ex-DOGEfather, Elon Musk. He told “CBS Sunday Morning" correspondent David Pogue that he’s disappointed with it.
See and hear it for yourself. The full interview will air Sunday, June 1st.
Musk: So you know, I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the Doge team is doing.
Pogue: I actually thought that when this big beautiful bill came along, I mean, like everything he's done on DOGE gets wiped out in the first year.”
Musk: “I think a bill can be can be can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it could be both, my personal opinion.”
President Trump responded to a question about Elon’s upcoming CBS interview. Though he didn’t attack Elon, Trump defended the bill, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Leader John Thune.
In a separate interview with The Washington Post, Elon lamented how DOGE was being unfairly treated.
“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” Musk said.
“So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it,” he continued.
Edits - 5/30/25
Corrected some errors and provided an update.
UPDATE
On Friday, President Donald Trump hosted a press event to celebrate Elon Musk, as his DOGE days are done. Musk, donned in his “DOGEfather” shirt, will focus more time on his companies, but will remain an informal advisor to Trump.
On the same day, Speaker Johnson thanked Musk for DOGE on 𝕏:
Several of his DOGE top staffers either recently left or are getting ready to leave. White House officials told NBC News that Steve Davis, the president of Musk’s Boring Company, and DOGE spokeswoman Katie Miller are among that list. Attorney James Burnham is also rumored to be leaving.
Last week, Musk bashed government profligacy on 𝕏. However, Elon had a profligacy problem of his own.
Last month, the Cato Institute, a moderate libertarian think tank, pointed out DOGE’s disappointing deeds. DOGE “fell far short of its goals,” they said.
Musk promised to cut federal spending by $2 trillion. That promise became $1 trillion, then dropped further to $250 billion. Today, Elon insists he still thinks DOGE can achieve savings of at least a trillion dollars over time.
As of today, the DOGE website reports $175 billion in savings. Other watchdogs have suggested otherwise. Musk Watch’s DOGE Tracker suggests verifiable cancelled funding FAR below (think less than $25 billion) what DOGE has said.
In his Washington Post interview, Elon revealed his mistakes. “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” Musk said.
“I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least,” he continued.
“It’s the banal evil of bureaucracy,” Musk said about the government’s spending problem.
UPDATE - 6/3/2025
Today, Elon Musk tore into the omnibus bill and Congress throughout the day. He caught the attention of many important people.
Rep. Massie (R-KY) and former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) chimed in to agree, and Musk replied to both. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) agreed as well. Musk engaged with them as well.
Some people don’t share Elon’s assessment. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) & Office of Management & Budget Director Russ Vought spoke up in disagreement.
Yeah, let me say this. It’s very disappointing.
I've come to consider Elon a good friend. He's obviously a very intelligent person, and he's done a lot of great work.
With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one big, beautiful bill.
— Speaker Johnson
We think the bill is a very good one. We think it's very strong fiscally.
Nothing’s changed from our view of the world. We understand where he’s coming from, but if you have an accurate baseline that treats taxes the same way it treats spending, this budget is $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings.
It's the most historic amount of mandatory reforms that this town has ever seen, and certainly we haven’t seen anything like it since the mid 1990s with welfare reform. And it’s a 1.4 trillion improvement to deficits and debt.
I don't think there's any way you could possibly suggest this is not a fiscally responsible bill.
— OMB Director Russ Vought
Stay tuned for any updates to this ongoing story.
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