Republican members of Congress are hoping the world’s richest man was just being rhetorical when he threatened to “fire” all the politicians who voted for President Donald Trump’s budget bill.
Members of the GOP were caught off guard earlier this week when Musk began raging against the president’s “one big beautiful bill,” which passed by just one vote on May 22.
After a few days of tepid criticism about specific provisions, on Tuesday the Republican megadonor went all in, bashing the bill as a “disgusting abomination” that will “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit.”
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” he wrote in a follow-up social media post. A day later, he told his 220 million followers on X to call their representatives and demand that they “KILL the BILL.”
The Tesla chief—who donated nearly $300 million to Trump’s re-election effort last year and served as one of his top advisers for the first several months of his new administration—has been careful only to bash members of Congress, not the president.
Trump, however, is the one who specifically demanded House Speaker Mike Johnson pass “one big beautiful bill” covering the budget, immigration, and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Musk’s crusade against the legislation put Republican members of the House of Representatives—all but two of whom voted for the bill—between a Trump-sized rock and a Musk-sized hard place, The New York Times reported.
Their supporters expect them to back the president, but they’re worried Musk will make good on his threat to use his wealth to fund primary challenges—or mobilize his legion of social media followers against them.
In interviews with more than half a dozen House Republicans, many told the Times they were quietly appalled by Musk for being “disrespectful” toward the president. Publicly, though, the lawmakers are wary of crossing Musk and putting a target on their backs.
Last year, Musk’s super PAC, America PAC, spent around $20 million to support 20 Republicans in highly competitive races. All of them ended up voting for the bill he is now trying to destroy.
During interviews with the Times, the lawmakers also accused Musk of throwing a fit because he didn’t get his way on specific budget provisions. The bill will cut a clean energy tax credit that has benefited Tesla for years.
Musk, however, claims he opposes the bill over projections that it would increase the federal deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over a decade.
Ultimately, House Republicans are counting on Trump being the more enduring political force, according to the Times, especially since Musk has made all kinds of contradictory comments about his political spending.
In April, he said he needed to spend millions on a Wisconsin state Supreme Court race to save Western civilization. His candidate nevertheless lost, and last month, he said he would spend “a lot less” on political races.
House Republicans are apparently hoping that if they lay low now, by the time the midterms roll around, the world’s richest man will have forgotten about the budget saga and moved on to new battles.
