WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress could only cringe as a feud between President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk spilled into the public eye, with their sweeping tax legislation at the center of it.
"I've had a lot of love and respect for you for what you've done for this country over the last several months, but you've lost your damn mind," Trump ally Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said to Musk.
The tiff began earlier this week when Musk, newly departed from the administration, called Republicans' sweeping tax bill a "disgusting abomination" because it is expected to increase the federal debt by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
But it escalated into an all-out war over the course of a few hours on the afternoon of June 5, after Trump said in Oval Office remarks that he is "very disappointed" with Musk's comments and suggested he wanted to kill the bill to keep electric vehicle tax credits that benefit his company Tesla.
Musk said Trump wouldn't have won a second term without the quarter of a billion dollars he spent on his 2024 campaign. Trump suggested going after Musk's companies and their federal contracts. And then Musk alleged that Trump's name was in the Justice Department's files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
