The Bulwark

The Bulwark

Home
Shows
Newsletters
Special Projects
Events
Founders
Store
Archive
About

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Musk Hands Dems a Gift. They Promptly Chuck It.
Press Pass

Musk Hands Dems a Gift. They Promptly Chuck It.

Plus: How to disappear for good.

Joe Perticone's avatar
Joe Perticone
May 29, 2025
∙ Paid
449

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Musk Hands Dems a Gift. They Promptly Chuck It.
104
59
Share
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Elon Musk isn’t very pleased with the “big, beautiful” budget the House passed before leaving town at the end of last week. He’s admitted to being disappointed with the legislation and has warned that it would harm critical subsidies for electric vehicles and solar projects. He’s also called it antithetical to the DOGE mission he has spearheaded at the behest of Donald Trump.

In all, it’s created a completely unexpected—and frankly, almost unthinkable—specter: the Republican party’s top donor, the president’s once-top adviser, publicly ragging on the biggest piece of legislation that the administration and its allies have attempted to push during their time in office.

Few opportunities like this have ever existed for an opposition party. And yet, in the 48 hours since Musk let his dissatisfaction be known, Democrats don’t appear to be doing much at all to capitalize on it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hasn’t posted on X, Facebook, or Instagram about Musk’s comments. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s opportunism extended to a single post about it on Facebook and X: “Wow, I didn’t realize Trump was even allowed to break with President Musk.” The Democratic National Committee’s rapid response account on X, “@Factpostnews,” posted about Musk’s comments twice. No formal statement was issued by any of their offices. Nor have other leader members of Congress jumped on Musk’s criticisms in any meaningful way.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to The Bulwark to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Bulwark Media
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

User's avatar

John Healy, a paid subscriber of The Bulwark, shared this with you.