Trump ‘Very Surprised,’ ‘Disappointed’ by Musk Hot Takes on ‘Beautiful Bill’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday he was “very surprised” by Elon Musk’s brutal takedown earlier this week of the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” now working its way through Congress.

At the same time the president, who was meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office when he made his remarks, expressed regrets that his friendship with Musk might be irrevocably over.

“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will any more,” Trump said as Merz, elected to lead Europe’s second largest country just last month, looked on.

Musk, who spent a literal fortune backing Trump’s election in 2024 and then controversially led the Department of Government Efficiency, left the administration with much fanfare last Friday after his time as a special government employee expired.

Saluted at length by the president from the Resolute Desk during a joint press conference, Trump even gave his departing advisor a large gold key emblazoned with the White House insignia.

Musk, Trump said on Friday, is “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced.”

He went on to say, “Elon’s service to America has been without comparison in modern history.”

For his part, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he hoped to continue to be a “friend and adviser to the president.”

But something changed over the weekend as the Senate began deliberating the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the huge reconciliation package that was passed by the House before Memorial Day and is intended to advance the president’s legislative agenda.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on X on Tuesday. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.

“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” he added.

On Thursday, Trump said he was mystified about what had caused the about face.

“I’ve always liked Elon. And so I was very surprised,” Trump said.

“You saw the words he had for me, and he hasn’t said anything about me that’s bad. I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill. Because the bill is incredible,” the president said.

Though Trump tried to stay on point, talking about topics he planned to take up with Merz, like the economy and immigration enforcement, the president repeatedly returned to the topic of his former advisor.

“We’ve done a good job. Elon knew that,” he said at one point, adding later, “Elon knew the inner workings of this bill … He never had a problem until right after he left.”

Trump suggested that perhaps Musk simply missed the excitement of being part of the White House.

“People leave my administration and they love us and then at some point they miss it so badly … that they become hostile,” he said.

Later, however, Trump suggested the two didn’t always see eye to eye on certain issues.

“Elon recommended a Democrat run NASA, but we said no,” Trump said.

At other times, he said, Musk was “upset” that tax credits for electric vehicles were stripped.

“But Elon knew about this policy change from the beginning,” Trump said

Musk’s soliloquy comes at a delicate time for the package, with Senate leaders appearing to be having a hard time getting enough votes for passage by a self-imposed July 4 deadline.

Following a meeting with the president on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, emerged from the West Wing with no breakthroughs to share with reporters waiting outside.

Thune described the Oval Office session as “a very positive discussion about the path forward,” adding that everybody is moving “in the same direction” and agrees “failure is not an option.”

Barrasso said they exited the meeting “committed to a safe and prosperous America and that’s what this bill is about.”

Crapo called it “a very robust and healthy discussion” and contended “we have very strong unity.”

Asked about Musk’s sudden opposition to the package, Thune said he “couldn’t speak to his reactions.”

On Musk’s advice that lawmakers “kill the bill” and start over, Thune said, “We’re a long way down the track … and we are moving forward.”

Trump’s comments on Musk were only just hitting the internet when the entrepreneur responded on X, repeating his view that a piece of legislation cannot be both “big” and “beautiful.”

“Whatever,” he wrote. “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”

But the pitched battle, at least on Musk’s side, continued all afternoon.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51 to 49 in the Senate. Such Ingratitude,” Musk wrote.

He also took issue with the president saying he knew the details of the bill.

“False, 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!” Musk wrote.

And then he began reXing posts Trump made in 2012 and 2013.

“No member of Congress should be eligible for reelection if our country’s budget is not balanced — deficits not allowed!” Trump wrote back then.

“I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling — I am a Republican and I am embarrassed,” he said in another post.

“Where is the man who wrote these words?” Musk wrote on Thursday. “Was he replaced by a body double!?”

“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL,” he added.

Later, on his Truth Social, the president said “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ and that he was asked to leave the administration.

“I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote.

In a second post, the president suggested the “easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and on X @DanMcCue