Well, the roommate has moved out, leaving the tenant whose name is on the lease as the sole occupant of the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. And, from all reports, it wasn’t an amicable parting.

It doesn’t appear that any of the presidential china, or any of the golden gewgaws on the mantle and the Resolute desk, were thrown or otherwise damaged. And there have been no reports of physical altercations, or arguments over custody of the Tesla. But at the end of the 130-day cohabitation, it took less than a week for the name-calling to begin.

I am, of course, referring to Elon Musk’s rapid about-face in his analysis of Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” — the one approved by the House of Representatives last month, and now facing scrutiny in the Senate. You know . . . the one that would add nearly $3 trillion to the national debt within the next decade, or an average of almost $300 billion per year. The same bill that is being touted by Trump as saving the American taxpayers gobs of money.

That bill.

Musk hasn’t — not publicly, at least — lobbed any insults at Trump personally. His animus is directed solely at the 1,000+ pages . . . nearly as long as, and even more soporific than, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” . . . of statistics, calculations, and rationalizations that he describes as a “disgusting abomination,” and says he “can’t stand . . . anymore.”

“Shame on those who voted for it,” he said, adding, “You know you did wrong.” [Anthony Zurcher, BBC, June 4, 2025.]

Then he carried his criticism on, writing on X:

“Bankrupting America is not OK! KILL the BILL.”

Musk does seem to have absorbed some of Trump’s style of communication during his four months in the White House. Stressing that the legislation would add to the U.S. budget deficit that he was initially charged with reducing, he threatened those Republicans who supported or are planning to support it:

“ . . . we [will] fire all the politicians who betrayed the American people” come next year’s midterm elections. [Id.]

Considering that all but three Republican representatives voted for the bill, which only passed by a single vote, that threat — coming from someone who has no qualms about throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaigns of his choice — is likely to carry substantial weight.

At the very least, it should keep a lot of members of both Houses of Congress scrambling to do damage control for quite a while.

There has been no response from Trump as yet . . . just the usual drivel from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who claimed that Trump “already knows” Musk’s views on the bill, and added :

“This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it.” [Id.]

Well . . . unless the Senate wakes up and does its job, that is.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/5/25