For most of the past year Donald Trump and Elon Musk have served as complementary megaphones for Republican priorities, but that partnership shattered this week in a spectacular online slug-fest. It began on Tuesday when Musk denounced the president’s 1 200-page tax-cut-and-border-security package as a “disgusting abomination” that would pile “trillions more on the backs of our kids.”
Within hours Trump fired back on Truth Social, calling the billionaire “a man who has lost his mind” and hinting that future federal contracts for Tesla and SpaceX could be in jeopardy. Musk responded by pledging to finance primary challengers against any Republican who backs the bill, turning a policy dispute into a personal feud felt up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Party Leaders Scramble For a Truce
The clash has alarmed GOP leaders who had counted on the two men’s combined star power to push the bill through a narrowly divided Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson publicly insisted that “spirited debate makes good policy,” yet privately urged aides to arrange a conciliatory phone call before next week’s mark-ups. Sources say Johnson has even floated hosting the pair for a steak dinner in the White House residence, hoping face-to-face conversation might puncture what colleagues describe as “140-character bravado.” On Fox News, Senator Ted Cruz argued that a reunited Trump-Musk front would “put rockets on the economy instead of grenades in the Republican foxhole,” while Senator Mike Lee mourned the breakup of what he once called the conservative movement’s “bromance.” Representative Dan Newhouse voiced the rank-and-file’s worry: “We can’t let a personality clash derail the entire session.”
High-Stakes Bill Hangs In The Balance
At the center of the storm is legislation that would extend the 2017 tax cuts, cut the capital-gains rate for startups, boost Pentagon funding and earmark US$60 billion for new border walls, drones and immigration courts. The Congressional Budget Office projects it would add US$3.8 trillion to the deficit over ten years—a headline figure Musk has wielded to rally fiscal hawks such as Rand Paul and Cynthia Lummis, who are now threatening amendments or outright opposition. The House squeaked the bill through last month on a 215-214 vote; in the Senate, even two defections could sink it, and Republicans control only 51 seats.
Time is slipping away. Johnson and Senate Minority Leader John Thune hope to place the measure on Trump’s desk before the August recess, but every news cycle devoted to personality clashes rather than policy details shortens the runway. Wall Street analysts warn that prolonged uncertainty could jolt markets just as second-quarter earnings season begins, particularly for defense contractors and construction firms banking on the bill’s spending surge. Meanwhile, dueling lobbying blitzes have erupted: Musk’s envoys circulate deficit tables, while White House allies distribute spreadsheets showing household savings from extended tax breaks.
Whether the feud fizzles or flares anew may depend less on spreadsheets than on ego. Aides say Trump was stung by Musk’s sudden resignation last week from his honorary post as “head of Government Efficiency,” while Musk’s friends insist the president ignored repeated warnings about red ink. For now, Republicans can only hope their two loudest cheerleaders remember they are ostensibly on the same team—before the clock runs out on the party’s signature economic drive.