Elon Musk, this time the CEO of Tesla, tech visionary and master disruptor. Political spending He recently announced his intention to reduce his political spending in the future. The U.S. House of Representatives just passed such a massive spending bill with Donald Trump’s blessing and by a very thin margin. In turn, Musk articulated his fears of what the fiscal impact of this legislation would be.
Yet, in doing so, Musk—a one-time key backer of Trump—showed that he’s moving himself, and the world, further away from the former president’s policies. Here’s what he had to say about the huge spending bill. This bill piles on multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a promise to increase defense spending. The legislation is estimated to increase the deficit by about $600 billion in its first full fiscal year.
It was that big spending bill, frankly, which disappointed me greatly Musk said during a recent Bloomberg New Economy Forum Musk Session. He criticized the plan, asserting that it “increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it,” thereby undermining fiscal responsibility.
Musk let his beliefs be known in no uncertain terms. He knew that the bill would cause harm to other priorities that he championed. He explained that it “undermines the work that the Doge team is doing,” referring to his involvement with the popular cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Musk had originally promised to withdraw from Dogecoin following his cash grab. Now, his goal should be to put the wood on leading Tesla far into the future, at least another five years, if not more.
Musk’s comments must be viewed against the backdrop of his past service as Trump’s “bomb-throwing cost-cutting tsar.” It was during this period that he made highly controversial moves, such as stopping funds for U.S. foreign aid and other initiatives. After all, Musk contributed more than $250 million to help engineer Trump’s return to the White House last year. His recent comments suggest he is starting to reconsider the political alliances and strategies he’s been following.
When reflecting on the nature of legislation like the one recently passed, Musk provided a candid observation: “I think a bill can be big or beautiful. I don’t know if it can be both.” Yet, this one line sums up his political and ideological distrust for such massive spending bills to solve broad national economic problems.
Musk’s latest attempt at scaling back his political spending. Today he speaks to a sharper alignment between his corporate pursuits and charitable endeavors. Taken together, his recent actions and statements put forth the strongest signal of a fundamental shift in both his personal and professional priorities in the years to come.