Musk calls Trump's big tax break bill a 'disgusting abomination,' testing his influence over the GOP

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00:00For more on this story, we welcome Davith Townley to the program. He is a teaching

00:05fellow in US politics and international security at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.

00:10Thanks so much for joining us today, sir. Thank you. Nice to be here.

00:16So we know that Elon and Trump, they have a close relationship. They seem to have a

00:21lot of respect for each other. So should we be surprised at this sort of outburst

00:26at one of Trump's signature policies? Well, I think most commentators and onlookers

00:34at the very beginning of this relationship felt that it was inevitably come to a conclusion where

00:40one of these very strong personalities would refuse to bend. And Musk's disappointment is not so much

00:49in the actual expenditure. It's in the necessity of increasing the deficit, which for him is

00:58everything that he's been trying to do as part of Doge. And now he's no longer inside the tent,

01:05so to speak. He's now freer to express his dissatisfaction with Trump's ambitions in terms of

01:12how he seeks to get this big, beautiful bill through Congress. He may no longer be in the tent,

01:20as you say. But what do we know about his influence? I mean, I imagine he probably has a direct line to

01:26Donald Trump. Oh, almost certainly. But I think that that has always been through most of the time,

01:34especially with his suggestions in terms of cost cut and has been through through other people. So

01:40certainly we know that there's been a relationship between Musk and Russell Vaught, who is head of the

01:46Office of Management and Budget. And the two of them have been working together in terms of

01:51coming up with where these cuts can take place. Trump's more likely to feel the effect, or at least the

02:00Republican Party will more likely to feel the effect, is if this continues, you know, at pace and over the

02:08next couple of months, because they benefited quite considerably from not only huge campaign

02:15funds from Musk's own personal wealth, but also the use of X as essentially a mouthpiece of

02:22Twitter during the election. So what we might see is a move away from that ardent support that has been

02:29there for the Republican Party, certainly over the last 12 months. But does he still have a word with

02:36Donald Trump? Certainly. But I think there are other people that have perhaps greater influence than

02:41Musk has. Yeah, we've heard Musk publicly state that he plans to give less money to US politics going

02:49forward. Let's talk a little bit about the legacy of Doge. I mean, we saw Elon at his sort of goodbye

02:56party in the Oval Office wearing a Doge hat, a shirt that said Doge father. It's obviously something he

03:03wants to portray as his legacy as he leaves the government. But what is the status of Doge? And

03:11do we know if it's going to be able to accomplish anything without the Doge father?

03:16Well, I think first of all, you know, Doge as a process in terms of cost cutting will continue,

03:24but under the leadership of Russell Vaught, who is really the ideological driver behind

03:33these cuts. He's a very influential part of Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which is

03:40the blueprint for this second administration of Donald Trump. What we will probably see is continued

03:48cuts to come in place. But Doge as an entity will probably has never officially acted as a government

03:57department. It's always been an advisor. I think Musk himself is very keen on creating some sort of

04:04permanent legacy. It's to a certain extent justifies, I'm not saying his existence, but just certainly

04:10justifies his expenditure and his involvement in the government. And certainly, I think a lot of his

04:15outrage at Trump at the moment is the fact that many of those cuts and savings that he's made over

04:22the last five months are effectively being neutralized by this huge spending bill that is

04:31at this moment is likely to find a lot of opposition within the Republican senators as it's

04:38being read in Congress. And finally, I'm just wondering your opinion on what the Elon and Trump

04:45relationship and how it's progressed since Trump took office, what kind of a message it sends to,

04:50you know, other billionaires in the United States who we saw cozy up to Trump, donate a lot of money,

04:56be involved in White House affairs. But Trump's budget bill and the tariffs and other actions haven't

05:03exactly been great for the business, for the economy and business in the US. So what do you make of this

05:10relationship between Trump and billionaires currently? So I think this is a more comfortable relationship

05:19for Trump than with politicians. I think he's used to negotiating and working alongside other wealthy

05:26individuals such as himself. I think that for many, they have had a transactional relationship in which

05:35they get something for what they put in. So we've seen, for example, you know, many of them

05:41not express their opposition to Trump, but certainly have failed to criticize Trump during the election

05:49campaign, where in the past, many of them would have come out against this. The tariffs have been a

05:54big issue there. They faced criticism, not just from within the billionaire community, but also the wider

06:01trade industry. And what we're seeing is some real concerns about the tariffs, one of which is, of

06:08course, is Elon Musk. Musk doesn't agree with the tariffs. He thought that they were unnecessary. And

06:15actually, this is where Trump departs from Project 2025 a little in terms of across the board tariffs. So what

06:22we're seeing is potentially a Trump administration that is that is moving away from these sort of

06:30one on one relationships and Trump becoming more independent of their support as he was during the

06:36election. David Townley from the University of Portsmouth. Thank you so much for joining us on

06:41France 3-4 and sharing your expertise. Appreciate it. Thank you.

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