I looks like I was right again. A few days ago, I wrote that Elon had ulterior motives and was only feigning concern over the national debt and spending in regard to his opposition to Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’. I said:
Elon dug up some 2011-2012 tweets about how Trump used to be a fiscal conservative. Trump responded that Elon had already approved of the bill. I am going to side with Trump here. The bill had been in the news for at least a month. Elon had abundant time and forewarning it would be big, but only over the last 24 hours suddenly became vocal about the deficit and spending? This makes no sense and suggests some ulterior motive than concerns over the deficit.
As it turns out, the actual reason has to do with subsidies being removed from the House version of the spending bill, and Trump backtracking on a NASA appointment. From Bloomberg:
Elon Musk is on a mission to block President Donald Trump’s tax bill after he tried — and failed — to convince Republican lawmakers to preserve valuable tax credits for electric vehicles in the legislation, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer personally appealed to House Speaker Mike Johnson to save the tax credit, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss a private conversation. The House version of the tax measure calls for largely ending the popular $7,500 electric car subsidies by the end of 2025.
Since losing that battle, Musk ratcheted up his offensive against the president’s signature legislation on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to “KILL” the legislation, pinning his opposition to the bill’s $2.4 trillion price tag.
From the NYTs, the feud was also precipitated by Trump suddenly changing his mind on an important nomination:
While Mr. Trump privately told advisers that he was surprised to learn of them, he and his team had been briefed about them during the presidential transition, before Mr. Isaacman’s nomination, according to two people with knowledge of the events. But by last Friday, when Mr. Trump went through the file containing details of the donations, he clearly had changed his mind.
As I said, Elon cannot claim ignorance or be taken aback by the bill’s size when he had forewarning for at least a month of the bill’s size. He was close with Trump, so presumably he would have known, yet didn’t voice any objection until only last week, after his appointment expired and efforts to secure the EV credits failed. It seemed obvious to me, at least, that there was some other motive, but others were fooled.
Cernovich wrote
If it’s the budget concern, then Elon should try to get a constitutional amendment on this enacted. Balanced Budget Amendment.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 6, 2025
It had nothing to do with the budget.
I don’t think that Elon’s posts yesterday were kayfabe but he is rightfully frustrated that we haven’t seen the Epstein files. He also wants Reid Hoffman and Bill Gates’s connections made more clear. How do Gates and Hoffman get by as if they weren’t Epstein island guests?
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 6, 2025
No, it was a failed attempt to blackmail the president.
I predict Tesla will still remain highly successful as a company. Elon’s personal brand and online presence will remain strong. But his foray into politics is over. His disloyalty and instability makes him damaged goods. No one will want to deal with him and open themselves to blackmail when it’s implicit knowledge everyone has skeletons in their closet. Of course, he could pivot to the left, but he burned those bridges too. There are no second chances in this business. So from ‘DOGE hero’ to zero.