Elon Musk reignited his public feud with President Donald Trump on Saturday, denouncing the administration's massive domestic policy bill as "utterly insane and destructive," just hours before the Senate was set to vote on the nearly 1,000-page legislation. Musk's criticism, delivered on his social platform X, targeted the bill's energy and tax provisions, which he warned would undercut emerging industries such as solar, battery, geothermal, wind, and nuclear power.
"The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!" Musk wrote. "It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future."
The legislation, widely dubbed Trump's "big, beautiful bill," includes new subsidies for coal used in steel production, a move Musk and other clean-tech advocates view as regressive. Musk's comments mark a renewed escalation in tensions between the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and the Trump administration, less than a month after Musk stepped down as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a role he assumed after contributing $277 million to Trump's re-election campaign.
On Saturday, his 54th birthday, Musk also posted that the bill would be "political suicide for the Republican Party." The billionaire's public rebuke comes as Senate Republicans scramble to meet Trump's self-imposed July 4 deadline for passing the legislation, which features sweeping tax cuts alongside targeted spending reductions.
"I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful," Musk told CBS in May, days before his departure from government. "But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."
In a previous post this month, Musk called the bill a "disgusting abomination" and admonished lawmakers who supported it: "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it." His comments prompted Trump to threaten a review of government contracts with Musk's companies, including billions in funding awarded to SpaceX by NASA and other agencies.
"He's got a lot of money, he gets a lot of subsidy," Trump told reporters on June 6. "So we'll take a look at that. Only if it's fair for him and for the country."
The public fallout between the two men has shocked political allies and investors alike. Tesla shares plunged 14% in a single day after Musk's initial criticisms of the bill, a drop that coincided with Trump's warning that federal support for Musk's companies could be reconsidered.
Musk later expressed regret over some of his remarks, telling followers he had "gone too far" in his online posts. Trump appeared to accept the olive branch, telling the New York Post, "Things like that happen. I don't blame him for anything."
