Elon Musk spent the last several months knee-deep in government, sidelining his companies to pursue a long-standing Republican quest to weed out alleged waste and fraud.
Then, a few weeks ago, House Republicans passed a bill with provisions that would kneecap Tesla.
Now Musk is fuming that the bill is “a disgusting abomination.”
Plenty has been written about Musk’s motivations for cozying up to President Donald Trump; for spending 130 days as a special government employee; for spending time away from Tesla, the main source of his wealth. Whatever his reasons, Musk did come away with some wins: He managed to secure some free advertising for Tesla, and Starlink is slowly embedding itself into the federal government.
But his time roaming the halls of power and standing alongside the president hasn’t exempted Tesla from Republicans’ desire to sink clean energy and electric vehicles.
On Tuesday, Musk let loose. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” he wrote on X. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
The Congressional Budget Office has yet to score the bill and its impact on the deficit, but this week the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit organization, estimated that the legislation would add $3 trillion in debt.
Musk might be publicly denouncing the reconciliation bill for its inability to rein in federal deficits — there’s no reason to think he doesn’t believe its a problem — but it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t feel personally slighted by the legislation.
An Axios report backs up that take on the situation, saying that Musk was “frustrated at failing to win favorable treatment in the bill and the administration at large.”
“Elon was butthurt,” a source with knowledge of Musk’s feelings told Axios.
It’s not just Musk’s feelings that could be bruised: His fortune could be dented if provisions hostile to Tesla survive the Senate.
Tesla’s biggest hit would come from revisions to the EV tax credit. Today, consumers who buy an eligible EV can claim up to $7,500, a provision that runs through 2032. Republicans want to end it in 2026 and reinstate the per-manufacturer cap of 200,000 vehicles. The cap almost feels targeted at Tesla, since the automaker was among the first to exceed that figure.
But Republicans didn’t stop there. They also took a hammer to clean energy, severely constraining the ability of rooftop solar installations to qualify for 30% tax credits. If passed, the changes would undercut Tesla’s energy division, which recently has grown 67% year-over-year. The business line has already been threatened by Trump’s tariffs, which “will have a relatively larger impact on our energy generation and storage business compared to our automotive business,” Tesla said in its quarterly report.
In a parting shot, the White House announced Saturday, the day after Musk’s departure, that it was pulling Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA administrator, something Musk had championed.
Welcome to politics, Elon.
