President Trump suggested the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — the commission once spearheaded by Elon Musk — could take a “good, hard, look” at the tech billionaire’s companies and the extent to which they’ve benefited from environmental tax credits.
Trump issued the warning early Tuesday, after his longtime ally-turned-foe took to social media to attack the massive tax and spending bill, which phases out many of the tax credits for renewable energy and is making its way toward a vote in the Senate.
“Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in a post shortly after midnight Tuesday. “It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one.”
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” he continued. “No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.”
The president added, “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
Musk responded directly to Trump in a post on his social platform X: “I am literally saying CUT IT ALL. Now.”
The Tesla CEO’s close relationship with Trump quickly devolved into a public clash last month over the fate of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which he has blasted as “utterly insane” and “political suicide” for the GOP.
Musk, this week, has renewed his sharp criticism of the bill and the party behind it, as the “big, beautiful bill,” full of Trump’s legislative priorities, faces hiccups in the upper chamber of Congress. He has also threatened to primary any Republican who supports the bill and, on Monday, reupped his calls for a new political party.
“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country — the PORKY PIG PARTY!! Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” Musk wrote on X, which he owns.
The Senate’s version of the bill would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion between 2025 and 2034, roughly $1 trillion more than the House-passed version, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
