Tech billionaire Elon Musk has claimed that former U.S. President Donald Trump would have lost the 2024 presidential election without his backing, igniting fresh tensions between the two high-profile figures.
Okay.ng reports that Musk made the statement in a post on X, formerly Twitter, while responding to Trump’s recent remarks criticizing him over his opposition to a controversial spending bill.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House, and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude,” Musk tweeted.
The billionaire, who previously headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Trump’s administration, resigned shortly after criticizing a Trump-backed legislation dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill”—a sweeping policy package that has become the cornerstone of Trump’s second-term domestic agenda.
The bill, narrowly passed in Congress with a 215-214 vote, includes massive tax cuts, heightened border security, stricter immigration enforcement, and controversial welfare reforms. Notably, it revives the U.S.-Mexico border wall with a $46.5 billion budget and allocates another $350 billion for deportation programs, including the recruitment of 10,000 ICE agents, 5,000 customs officers, and 3,000 border patrol agents. For the first time in U.S. history, it mandates a $1,000 asylum application fee for migrants.
It also includes a $4 trillion increase to the national debt ceiling and raises the estate tax exemption to $15 million, a move widely seen as favoring the wealthy.
Musk, a vocal critic of the bill, labelled it a “disgusting abomination,” citing concerns over its fiscal recklessness and failure to deliver on promised efficiency gains. Under Musk’s DOGE initiative, the administration had aimed to save taxpayers $2 trillion, though only $160 billion had been realized before his departure.
Trump, in turn, downplayed Musk’s criticisms and suggested the Tesla CEO’s discontent stemmed from cuts to electric vehicle mandates included in the bill.
“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here. He knew everything about it, and all of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed a problem when he found out I was going to cut the EV mandate because that’s billions and billions of dollars,” Trump said.
The former president continued, “He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn’t said anything bad about me personally, but I’m sure that will be next. But I’m really disappointed with Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
Trump also speculated that Musk’s public backlash was emotionally driven.
“Elon worked hard at DOGE, and I think he misses the place… He’s not the first. People leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly… some of them actually become hostile. I don’t know what it is, some sort of Trump derangement syndrome.”
While Trump insisted he would have still secured Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, without Musk’s help, the billionaire businessman firmly disagreed—asserting that his influence was crucial to the Republican win in 2024.
The fiery exchange highlights the unraveling relationship between Trump and Musk, once seen as unlikely allies.
