Tesla CEO Elon Musk, once a top Trump ally and architect of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is now sharply criticizing the Republican budget plan nearing Senate approval—calling it “utterly insane” and a threat to the future of the U.S. economy.
“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns. “Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”
Musk’s comments come as the GOP pushes a sweeping budget proposal that critics say favors traditional energy and defense sectors while pulling support from green energy, tech innovation, and newer industries—areas where Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, have thrived, particularly under Biden-era subsidies.
Despite once donating $250 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and serving as a central figure in the Trump administration’s second-term agenda, Musk has since broken with the president. His role in creating DOGE—an agency that cut $160 billion in federal spending and eliminated 250,000 government jobs—was once hailed by conservatives. However, it has also made him a target of nationwide protests, and his relationship with the administration has soured.
DOGE has shuttered 11 federal agencies in the name of streamlining government, with Musk once promising it would save the U.S. $2 trillion over a decade. Now, he says the budget bill pushed by the GOP contradicts that mission and will undermine America’s long-term competitiveness.
Musk has also begun to personally distance himself from Trump, criticizing both the administration’s priorities and its leadership style in recent months. His recent public rebuke of the budget marks the most aggressive break yet from the political establishment he once helped shape.
