“Disgusting abomination”: Elon Musk criticizes Donald Trump – and threatens Congress

(dpa) Just days after his departure from Washington, tech billionaire Elon Musk is on a collision course with US President Donald Trump. Musk attacked the tax and spending bill pushed by Trump on Tuesday evening (local time) as a "disgusting abomination." He then followed up with a warning to members of Congress who vote for the bill: "In November of next year, we will fire all the politicians who have betrayed the American people."

Midterm elections are scheduled for early November 2026 in the US, in which all members of the House of Representatives and a good third of the senators will have to face the voters.

For members of Congress, such words from Musk are no empty threat: After all, he donated more than $250 million to Trump's election campaign last year. Musk is by far the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $400 billion. Even though it's mostly in stocks, he can easily spend large sums on campaigns.

The budget plan, which Trump calls the "big, beautiful bill," made it through the House of Representatives in May, the first chamber of Congress to do so, with a narrow majority. However, several members of Trump's Republican Party are opposing it in the Senate. They object to the planned increase in the debt ceiling and want more drastic spending cuts.

Trump is currently trying to bring skeptical Republican senators into line. Musk's move undermines these efforts. It also represents an extraordinary intervention in the relationship between the president and Congress. Trump himself often threatens renegade representatives and senators that he will support their party rivals in the next election.

The White House initially responded to Musk's criticism with a shrug: "The president already knows what Elon Musk thought of this law," said spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Trump stands by it. However, that was before Musk's warning to members of Congress.

Musk had already criticized the bill in recent days – but in much more restrained terms. He expressed, for example, "disappointment" that it undermined the government spending cuts by the DOGE committee, which he had spearheaded. At the same time, he told CBS that he was "a bit of a pickle" because he didn't want to criticize the government, but also didn't want to support all of its decisions. Now he prefaced his fierce criticism with the words: "I'm sorry, but I can't take it anymore."

Among other things, the package is intended to permanently extend tax breaks from Trump's first term. He also intends to fulfill his campaign promise to abolish taxation of tips and overtime pay. This will be financed, for example, through cuts in social benefits – a move that has met with fierce opposition from Democrats.

The tech billionaire received applause from left-wing Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders: "Musk is right," he also wrote on X. Sanders pointed out that the richest Americans would receive $664 billion in tax breaks and at the same time $290 billion would be cut from food supplies for the needy.

In withdrawing from Washington, Musk cited the rule that contracts for external government employees are limited to 130 days per year. However, there had already been indications in recent months that Musk's influence within Trump's circle had weakened. According to media reports, he lost power struggles with several cabinet ministers. Most recently, Trump also decided to remove the previous candidate for the leadership of the space agency NASA, who was close to Musk, from the race.