Elon Musk, less than a week removed from his term as a special government employee in charge of the newly configured and controversial Department of Government Efficiency, was frustrated at failing to win favorable treatment with the reconciliation budget bill and with the Trump administration as a whole.
That is what Axios reported Tuesday, citing two anonymous sources who are in frequent communication with Musk and President Donald Trump as it attempted to examine why Musk went public with a lashing of the bill as an unsupportable abonination.
Musk unleashed Tuesday in a post on X, which he owns, regarding the legislation dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” calling it a “disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
The two sources told Axios that Musk and Trump remain friends, but they outlined four reasons for Musk’s harsh rhetoric on the signature legislation of Trump’s second term.
- The legislation cuts the electric vehicle tax credit that helps automakers 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, according to Axios.
- Musk had discussed trying to remain a special government employee beyond the 130-day time limit set by statute for the unpaid advisory position. But White House officials said he couldn’t keep serving in that capacity.
- Musk also wanted the Federal Aviation Administration to use his Starlink satellite system for national air traffic control. But the administration balked because of the appearance of a conflict of interest and for other, technology-related reasons. “You can’t have air traffic control just run off satellites,” one of the sources said.
- The final straw for Musk appeared to come Saturday night, when Trump announced he was withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally, to be NASA administrator.
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, Axios reported.
“This was Sergio’s out-the-door ‘[expletive] you’ to Musk,” a White House official told Axios.
But two administration insiders told Axios that wasn’t the case. Senators had complained about Isaacman for being a Democrat donor, and the White House wanted a Republican loyalist.
“Perception is reality, though, and I’m pretty sure Elon thought the NASA situation was a last insult,” the White House official told Axios. “So here we are.”
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