OBBBA has joined the alphabet soup that characterizes Washington. OBBBA is the creation of the orange-tinged Oompha Loompha man-child in the White House. OBBBA stands for One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Not everybody likes this creation of Trump and his cronies, most surprisingly Elon Musk. How did Elmo get on the wrong side of Trump’s signature achievement? Or what Trump hopes to be his signature achievement? And how did Rand Paul become the voice of reason?
And believe me, if you were in cryogenic sleep and somebody woke you up and said, “We’re in a day and age where Rand Paul is the voice of reason,” if you had a lick a sense, your reply would be “put me back under for another fifty years.” Of course by that time there might only be smoldering atomic ruins but we take our chances, right? Meanwhile, Musk is telling Trump to get screwed while Trump’s hatchetman is telling Elmo the same thing.
Elon Musk blasted President Trump‘s legacy legislation Tuesday, casting it as a bloated mess. But two sources who have spoken to Musk say he was frustrated at failing to win favorable treatment in the bill and the administration at large.
Why it matters: Musk’s post on X calling Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” a “disgusting abomination” of pork spending blindsided Trump’s team when it was posted during a White House press briefing — and signaled the escalating tension that shadowed Musk’s departure from government last week.
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Musk had criticized Trump’s signature bill before, but before Tuesday afternoon his rhetoric had been far more restrained and muted.
The big picture: Musk and Trump remain friends and allies, the two people in frequent communication with both told Axios. But they said Trump was somewhat irked by Musk’s social media sabotage.
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“Elon was butthurt,” one source said.
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A Musk spokesperson could not be reached.
Zoom in: The sources familiar with the Trump-Musk relationship say there appeared to be four inflection points that led to his caustic attack on Trump’s bill:
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The legislation cuts the electric vehicle tax credit that helps car makers like Musk’s Tesla. As of late April, his company had spent at least $240,000 lobbying on behalf of the credit and other company matters. Behind the scenes, sources say, Musk also advocated for the measure in the legislation, but to no avail.
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Musk was working at the White House as what’s called a “special government employee,” and he had discussed trying to stay in that role beyond the 130-day time limit set by statute for the unpaid advisory position. But ultimately, White House officials said he couldn’t keep serving in that capacity.
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Musk also wanted the Federal Aviation Administration to use his Starlink satellite system for national air traffic control, the sources said. But the administration balked at it because of the appearance of a conflict of interest and for technological reasons. “You can’t have air traffic control just run off satellites,” the second source said.
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The final straw for Musk appeared to come Saturday night, when Trump abruptly announced he was withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally, to be NASA administrator.
The intrigue: After Isaacman’s nomination was dropped, word quickly spread in the White House that Sergio Gor — the director of the Office of Presidential Personnel who had clashed with Musk — was behind the decision.
The Director Of The Office Of Personnel is traditionally a Trump crony. Last time it was one of Trump’s body men, a guy that delivered a turkey sandwich to Trump Tower. Trump liked the guy and made him into a caddy, according to an account by Melania’s former BFF, Stephanie Wolkoff, and then from there he got a White House post. This is how things work in Trump world. You don’t need to know a bloody thing, just have something about you which Donald finds appealing, and you are promoted to post light years beyond your abilities. That was once called rank insanity, now it is called “populism.”
In all events, one thing is certain: the Musk/Trump feud is only starting to brew. Watch. And think about it. You’ve got two narcissistic sociopaths, whose only focus is greed and number one. This is the classic irresistible force meeting the immovable object. And which one of them is gonna give is anybody’s guess. Musk is younger and richer but Trump is POTUS and they’re both equally out of their minds.
This would be an interesting spat but for the fact that 330 million of us are in the middle of it. Not to mention that the rest of the world has a stake in what happens here as well.
It’s really a simple matter Mr. “genius” FElon Mustrat.
TACO used you up and spit you out.
He took millions in cash for his campaign and then “hired” you to do his dirty work indiscriminately destroying the government. The perfect fall guy. All the blame to you, and he comes off virtually scot free. It was DOGE cuts not Trump cuts, so says the media, so you own it pal.
Once you said the cash spigot was closed, your useful idiot status went to just idiot and you were unceremoniously shown the door with a swift kick to the arse.
You served your purpose….but in the end, you paid millions to be Trump”s patsy.
Some genius rite???……..*points and laffs at the wunderkind*…….aaahahaha!!!
*smirk*
I don’t remember Rand Paul, Musk, or any other republicons complaining about the bill when it was in the House. This is all a charade and all of these GOP senators WILL vote for the bill, period.
I remember an interview with Musk a few years back saying the EV credits should go.
I wonder why he changed his view on this.