Technology investor Elon Musk took to CBS News on Sunday to publicly criticize MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, claiming it undermines the billionaire's efforts with the Trump created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Trump administration claims the bill would reduce federal spending by $1.5 trillion, but doesn't divulge that it's through cuts to taxpayer benefit programs like Medicaid and SNAP.
And according to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax provisions in the bill would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion by 2034. Musk and other wealthy taxpayers will see the greatest benefit from the bill, but he still publicly disapproved of it in his latest split with the MAGAsphere.
Appearing on CBS' Sunday Morning, Musk told correspondent David Pogue:
"I was 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."
Seeming to mock the Trumpian name of the bill, Musk added:
"I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."
You can watch the moment here:
People agreed with the criticism of the bill, but not the hypocrisy of the messenger.
Musk promised his DOGE team would produce $2 trillion in savings after Trump created the pseudo government agency without congressional approval or oversight.
But Musk's team of programmers only gutted or shut down 11 federal agencies without any analysis of the essential functions performed by each, eliminated 250,000 federal workers without determining how to maintain their workload, and claimed a taxpayer savings of $175 billion that he can't and won't prove—nor can anyone else who has tried.
Meanwhile, ethics and security watchdogs cited the group's collection of legally protected personal data of millions of Americans for unknown purposes.
Despite Musk's claim of savings, the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model—which tracks weekly Treasury data—reported total government spending has increased ever since Trump took office and Musk began his DOGE cuts affecting government services provided to taxpayers.
Less bang, costing more bucks.
Musk's public criticism of the One Big Beautiful Bill has likely not been well-received by Trump, who has a history of lashing out against anyone who doesn't show complete fealty to him.
However, Musk is also a major donor to the GOP and spent $277 million to back Trump in 2024—a move that eventually increased the personal fortunes of both men after Trump took office.
When asked on Wednesday for his "reaction" Musk's criticism, Trump only said:
"Well, our reaction’s a lot of things."
The relatively mild response was uncharacteristic for a President known for his on camera rants and online tantrums over any perceived slight.
Some speculate Musk's backing off from a visible role in world politics in general and the Trump administration in particular is merely an attempt to halt massive business losses at several of his companies—driven by the general public's dislike of him—and to appease the board of directors at Tesla who had threatened to remove him after the company's stock and sales tanked.
