Trump says he’s ‘disappointed’ with Musk after former backer turns on the Republican tax bill
Trump says he’s ‘disappointed’ with Musk after former backer turns on the Republican tax bill
By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The breakup between the president of the United States and the world’s richest man is unfurling much like their relationship started — rapidly, intensely and very publicly.
As President Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office on Thursday with Germany’s leader at his side, he lamented his soured relationship with Elon Musk, his adviser-turned-social media antagonist. Trump said he was “very disappointed” with Musk after the billionaire former backer lambasted the president’s signature bill of tax cuts and spending plans.
Trump suggested Musk, who left the government last month after spearheading the tumultuous Department of Government Efficiency, misses being in the White House and has “Trump derangement syndrome.”
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said.
He said that he had helped Musk a lot and brushed aside the billionaire’s efforts to get him elected last year, claiming that he would have won closely contested Pennsylvania even without Musk’s help, which included spending at least $250 million supporting his campaign last year.
The Republican president’s comments came as Musk has continued a storm of social media posts attacking Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and warning it will increase the federal deficit. Musk has called Trump’s big tax break bill a “disgusting abomination.”
As Trump spoke to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Musk was watching.
“False,” he fired back on his social media platform as the president continued speaking. “This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”
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