Elon Musk’s once-strong relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be fraying after the tech billionaire sharply criticised the White House for “undermining” his efforts and turning the DOGE team into scapegoats.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a SpaceX Starship launch on Tuesday night, May 27, the Tesla CEO didn’t hold back when addressing Trump’s proposed $3.8 trillion “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
“It undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit instead of reducing it.”
In conversations with multiple outlets, Musk expressed frustration over what he called unfair treatment from the administration.
“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” he told The Washington Post.
“Something bad happens anywhere, and we’re blamed—even if we had nothing to do with it.”
Musk played a key role in helping Trump win re-election and held considerable influence in the early months of Trump’s second term. However, his aggressive cost-cutting approach—particularly his effort to eliminate waste by slashing jobs—sparked backlash from both the political establishment and government workers.
The fallout included protests at Tesla showrooms, people burning Teslas, and a steep drop in Tesla’s stock value. Reports even suggested Tesla’s board considered replacing Musk.
Reflecting on his deep dive into politics, Musk admitted to ARS Technica:
“I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics. It’s not like I left the companies—it was just that I allocated too much time to the government side, and I’ve scaled that back recently.”
He also took a jab at Trump’s legislation:
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both. Just my opinion.”
The bill, expected to add $3.8 trillion to an already staggering $36 trillion national debt, is a cornerstone of Trump’s agenda—covering everything from tax cuts to immigration policy.
Musk closed with a grim take on Washington:
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized. I knew there were issues, but trying to improve things in D.C. is an uphill battle, to say the least.”
