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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump says DOGE is a monster that may ‘go back and eat Elon’
By David Goldman and Hadas Gold, CNN
Updated:
1:33 PM EDT, Tue July 1, 2025
Source: CNN
The truce between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump didn’t even
last a month.
After the Senate narrowly passed a procedural vote to debate Trump’s
“Big, Beautiful Bill” over the weekend, Musk on Monday said he
would use his vast resources to against Republicans in Congress who
voted for the massive domestic policy agenda. Musk spent much of Monday
and early Tuesday morning posting and re-posting messages that
criticize the tax cut and spending bill — particularly for its
sky-high cost.
Trump late Monday night fought back, suggesting his administration may
investigate Musk’s companies’ massive government contracts. On
Tuesday at the White House, Trump said Musk risked losing “a lot
more” than government subsidies and threatened that the Department of
Government Efficiency that Musk once led may become a monster that will
“go back and eat Elon.”
So far, the feud hasn’t grown as personal or as vicious as their
public blow-up last month when Musk, without providing evidence, of
withholding information about disgraced financier and convicted
pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and claiming that Trump’s name was
included in the government’s so-called Epstein files.
A week after the peak of that feud, some of his posts about Trump. Musk
deleted some of his most inflammatory X posts, including the one
relating to Epstein and another agreeing with the suggestion that Trump
should be impeached. Musk had since softened his tone about Trump and
the bill, largely shifting his focus on social media and in interviews
to his companies.
That shifted dramatically Monday when Musk began posting nonstop about
his opposition to Trump’s signature legislation.
This time around, Musk seems to be holding himself back from attacking
Trump directly. In response to a video of Trump’s comments about have
DOGE go after Musk, he , “So tempting to escalate this. So, so
tempting. But I will refrain for now.”
Still, the fight is costing Musk where it counts: Tesla’s () stock
tumbled 7% in Tuesday after losing 2% on Monday, missing out on the
broader stock market gains that sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record
highs. Much of Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla’s publicly traded
stock.
Tesla shareholders have been very sensitive to the Musk-Trump spat,
nervous that Trump may make good on his threat to dissolve contracts
with SpaceX or Tesla. The stock lost about 14% on June 4, the day when
Musk and Trump’s feud over the spending bill erupted into the public.
“This BFF situation has now turned into a soap opera that remains an
overhang on Tesla’s stock with investors fearing that the Trump
Administration will be more hawkish and show scrutiny around
Musk-related US government spending,” said Dan Ives, analyst at
Wedbush Securities, in a note to investors Tuesday. “Tesla investors
want Musk to focus on driving Tesla and stop this political angle.”
Musk goes off
Musk’s renewed attacks on the bill started Monday afternoon, when he
threatened members of Congress who voted for the legislation. He said
the bill would undermine his efforts at DOGE which sought fiscal
responsibility by eliminating what he and others viewed as wasteful
spending.
But the Senate bill would add over the next decade, according to a
Congressional Budget Office estimate released Sunday. The Senate
legislation costs more than the House-approved bill, which would add
$2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
The White House has the bill “slashes deficits” and the debt, while
“unleashing economic growth.” Musk wasn’t having it.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government
spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in
history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their
primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he on
X.
He later shared a campaign poster with “LIAR” written across
Pinocchio’s face above the text “Voted to increase America’s debt
by $5,000,000,000,000.”
“Anyone who campaigned on the PROMISE of REDUCING SPENDING, but
continues to vote on the BIGGEST DEBT ceiling increase in HISTORY will
see their face on this poster in the primary next year,” Musk .
Musk wrote several posts about called “the America Party,” which
would serve as a populist alternative to the Republican and Democratic
parties.
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be
formed the next day,” Musk .
He also posted that to the re-election campaign for Kentucky Rep.
Thomas Massie, who has been one of the few Republican voices in
Congress to take a stand against the bill. Trump has publicly scolded
Massie for his opposition.
Trump enters the chat
Trump early Tuesday morning responded with a threat: He could use DOGE
to probe the government contracts and subsidies Musk’s companies
receive.
“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,” Trump wrote on . “No more Rocket
launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would
save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at
this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
On Tuesday at the White House, Trump said Musk risked serious losses
from his opposition to the bill.
“He’s upset that he’s losing his EV mandate,” Trump said. “He
could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Elon could
lose a lot more than that.”
When asked if Trump would want to deport Musk, a US citizen, Trump
said, “I don’t know, we’ll have to take a look.”
“We might have to put DOGE on Elon,” Trump added. “You know what
DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.
Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies. Elon’s very
upset that the EV mandate is going to be terminated.”
Trump made a similar suggestion last month. Although it’s not clear
that Trump would follow through, Musk’s companies are reliant on the
federal government as a major source of revenue. And Tesla, SpaceX and
Musk’s other companies, including social media platform X, artificial
intelligence company xAI and brain-computer interface company Neuralink
all face regulation from the federal government.
Unlike SpaceX, which makes the bulk of its money from the government,
Tesla has relatively few government contracts. But numerous federal
policies directly affect Tesla’s finances, including a $7,500 tax
credit for electric vehicle buyers that allows Tesla and other
automakers to raise prices. The tax credit has also has helped boost EV
sales. That was likely worth billions to Tesla last year alone.
Tesla also reported more than $8 billion in sales over six years of
regulatory credits to other automakers to help them comply with federal
and state emission standards. Trump is in favor of rolling back those
standards and stripping states of the power to set their own emissions
rules, which would destroy the market for those credit sales.
The loss of the EV tax credit could cost Tesla $1.2 billion a year and
the loss of regulatory credit sales another $2 billion, according to
JPMorgan.
“At the end of the day being on Trump’s bad side will not turn out
well, and Musk knows this,” Ives wrote.
Trump has argued that Musk’s primary opposition to the Big, Beautiful
Bill is the loss of EV tax credits. Musk denies that, retweeting a post
Monday that said, “Elon’s opposition to the ‘One Big Beautiful
Bill’ has never been about its removal of EV tax credits or the EV
mandate, it’s simply about his passionate opposition to rising
government debt.”
“All I’m asking is that we don’t bankrupt America,” Musk .
What happens next?
It’s unclear whether Musk’s threats will kill the bill’s chances.
Trump has mounted a massive pressure campaign on holdouts, putting
members of Congress in a difficult position of choosing Musk and his
war chest of cash or Trump and his bully pulpit.
Musk spent more than $275 million to support Trump and other Republican
candidates in the 2024 election. According to Federal Election
Commission filings, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC,
last gave money in March to support two Republican candidates running
in special elections in Florida — Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis. In
late May he said in an interview he was planning to cut back on
political spending, saying he has “done enough.”
But Musk has the resources to make good on his promises to support a
slate of alternate candidates if he chooses.
That doesn’t guarantee he’ll succeed: Musk spent considerable time
and resources in a losing effort to elect a Republican to Wisconsin’s
supreme court earlier this year. His popularity remains low, and,
ultimately, Donald Trump is president, and Musk is not.
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