Elon Musk just made his starkest political threat since the election
After declaring he was stepping away from the political spotlight, Elon Musk got right back in it.
As the Senate debated President Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' on Monday before a final vote, Musk issued a stark warning via his social media platform X.
'Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,' he wrote.
A few hours later he went further, declaring on X that if the 'insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day.'
'Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,' he wrote.
For weeks, Musk has railed against Trump's policy bill, leading to a very public and ugly fight with Trump earlier this month. In a flurry of X posts several weeks ago, Musk had proposed starting a new political party.
That proposal resurfaced on Monday, when Musk said: 'It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!! Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.'
Musk's resolution to support candidates who plan to launch primary campaigns against members of Congress is one of Musk's most concrete political threats since leaving his post as a White House adviser. Musk spent more than US$275 million to support Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election. In late May he said in an interview he was planning to cut back on political spending, saying he has 'done enough.'
According to Federal Election Commission filings, Musk's political action committee, America PAC, last gave money in March to support two Republican candidates running in special elections in Florida – Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis.
Musk has argued that the Republican policy bill will increase the debt, calling it 'debt slavery.'
The Senate bill would add nearly $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate released Sunday. The Senate legislation costs more than the House-approved bill, which would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
The Senate package contains deeper tax cuts, fewer spending cuts and provisions that would raise revenue. The White House has argued the bill 'slashes deficits' and the debt, while 'unleashing economic growth.'
The Trump administration and certain Senate Republicans are opting not to include the cost of extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts in their calculations of the bill's impact on the federal deficit.
Though Musk has said the loss of electric vehicle and solar energy subsidies and credits in the bill are not why he opposes the legislation, he has complained the bill 'gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.'
By Hadas Gold.
CNN's Tami Luhby contributed reporting.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
26 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump keeps saying the GOP mega bill will eliminate taxes on Social Security. It does not
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump keeps saying that Republicans' mega tax and spending cut legislation will eliminate taxes on federal Social Security benefits. It does not. At best, Trump's 'no tax on Social Security' claim exaggerates the benefits to seniors if either the House or Senate-passed proposals is signed into law. Here's a look at Trump's recent statements, and what the proposals would — or would not — do. What Trump has said Trump repeatedly told voters during his 2024 campaign that he would eliminate taxes on Social Security. As his massive legislative package has moved through Congress, the Republican president has claimed that's what the bill would do. Trump said on a recent appearance on Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures' that the bill includes 'no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime.' A temporary tax deduction But instead of eliminating the tax, the Senate and House have each passed their own versions of a temporary tax deduction for seniors aged 65 and over, which applies to all income — not just Social Security. And it turns out not all Social Security beneficiaries will be able to claim the deduction. Those who won't be able to do so include the lowest-income seniors who already don't pay taxes on Social Security, those who choose to claim their benefits before they reach age 65 and those above a defined income threshold. The Senate proposal includes a temporary $6,000 deduction for seniors over the age of 65, contrasted with the House proposal, which includes a temporary deduction of $4,000. The Senate proposal approved Tuesday would eliminate Social Security tax liability for seniors with adjusted gross incomes of $75,000 or less or $150,000 if filing as a married couple. If passed into law, the tax deduction would last four years, from 2025 to 2029. The deductions phase out as income increases. White House touts impact Touting a new Council of Economic Advisers analysis, the White House said Tuesday that '88% of all seniors who receive Social Security — will pay NO TAX on their Social Security benefits,' going on to say that the Senate proposal's $6,000 senior deduction 'is estimated to benefit 33.9 million seniors, including seniors not claiming Social Security. The deduction yields an average increase in after-tax income of $670 per senior who benefits from it.' Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation think tank, said conflating the tax deduction with a claim that there will be no tax on Social Security could end up confusing and angering a lot of seniors who will expect to not pay taxes on their Social Security benefits. 'While the deduction does provide some relief for seniors, it's far from completely repealing the tax on their benefits,' Watson said. Economic effect Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. The cost of actually eliminating the tax on Social Security would have massive impacts on the economy. University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that eliminating income taxes on Social Security benefits 'would reduce revenues by $1.5 trillion over 10 years and increase federal debt by 7 percent by 2054″ and speed up the projected depletion date of the Social Security Trust Fund from 2034 to 2032. Discussions over taxes on Social Security are just part of the overall bill, which is estimated in its Senate version to increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Administration officials have said the cost of the tax bill would be offset by tariff income. Recently, the CBO separately estimated that Trump's sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall.
Winnipeg Free Press
26 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
House Republicans race toward a final vote on Trump's tax bill, daring critics to oppose
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in the House are sprinting toward a Wednesday vote on President Donald Trump's tax and spending cuts package, determined to seize momentum from a hard-fought vote in the Senate while essentially daring members to defy their party's leader and vote against it. 'The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,' the top four House GOP leaders said Tuesday after the bill passed the Senate 51-50, thanks to Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaking vote. It's a risky gambit, one designed to meet Trump's demand for a July 4 finish — and there's a steep climb ahead. Since launching early this year, Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way, often succeeding by only a single vote. Their House majority stands at only 220-212, leaving little room for defections. Some Republicans are likely to balk at being asked to rubber stamp the Senate bill less than 24 hours after passage, having had little time to read or absorb the changes that were made, many at the last minute to win the vote of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. House Republicans from competitive districts have bristled at the Senate bill's cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives have lambasted the legislation as straying from their fiscal goals. It falls to Speaker Mike Johnson and his team to convince them that the time for negotiations is over. Trump pushes Republicans to do 'the right thing' The bill would extend and make permanent various individual and business tax breaks that Republicans passed in Trump's first term, plus temporarily add new ones that Trump promised during the campaign, including allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and provide a new $6,000 deduction for most older adults. In all, the legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. The bill also provides some $350 billion for defense and Trump's immigration crackdown. Republicans partially pay for it all through less spending on Medicaid and food assistance. The Congressional Budget Office projects that it will add about $3.3 trillion in federal deficits over the coming decade. The House passed its version of the bill back in May, despite worries about spending cuts and the overall price tag. Now, they are being asked to give final passage to a version that, in many respects, exacerbates those concerns. The Senate bill's projected impact on federal deficits, for example, is significantly higher. Trump praised the bill profusely in a social media post, saying 'We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional 'GRANDSTANDERS' (You know who you are!), and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk.' The high price of opposing Trump's bill Speaker Johnson, R-La., is intent on meeting the president's July 4 timeline. He's also betting that hesitant Republicans won't cross Trump because of the heavy political price they would have to pay. They need only look to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced his intention to vote against the legislation over the weekend. Soon, the president was calling for a primary challenger to the senator and personally attacking him on social media. Tillis quickly announced he would not seek a third term. Others could face a similar fate. One House Republican who has staked out opposition to the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, is already being targeted by Trump's well-funded political operation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said leadership was not entertaining the possibility of making changes to the bill before the final vote. He said the two chambers already agree on the vast majority of what's in it. 'It's not as easy as saying, 'hey, I just want one more change,' because one more change could end up being what collapses the entire thing,' Scalise said. Democratic lawmakers, united against the bill as harmful to the country, condemned the process as rushed. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said there's no real deadline for getting the bill passed by July 4th. 'We're rushing not because the country demands it, but because he wants to throw himself another party,' McGovern said. 'This isn't policy. It's ego management.' Democrats warn health care, food aid are being ripped away House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries described the bill in dire terms, saying that cuts in Medicaid spending would result in 'Americans losing their lives because of their inability to access health care coverage.' He said Republicans are 'literally ripping the food out of the mouths of children, veterans and seniors.' 'House Democrats are going to do everything we can for the next few hours, today, tomorrow, for the balance of this week and beyond to stop this bill from ever becoming law,' Jeffries said. Republicans say they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and applies existing work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to more beneficiaries. States will also pick up more of the cost for food benefits, with the amount based on their payment error rates, which include both underpayments and overpayments. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. The driving force behind the bill, however, is the tax cuts. Many expire at the end of this year if Congress doesn't act. 'Passing this bill means smaller tax bills and bigger paychecks for the American people — permanently,' said Senate Majority Leader John Thune. 'It will also help get our economy firing on all cylinders again.' The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile, and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. That's compared to what they'd face if the 2017 tax cuts expired. ___ Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
Globe and Mail
35 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Why Dollar General Stock Jumped 18% in June
Shares of Dollar General (NYSE: DG) were among the winners last month as the discount retailer soared on better-than-expected results in its first-quarter earnings report and benefited from an upward trend in the stock market over the rest of the month. In the end, it was enough to push the retail stock up 18% for June, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. As you can see from the chart below, nearly all of the stock's gains came on the earnings report early in the month. DG data by YCharts Dollar General has some good news Dollar General had historically been a strong performer on the stock market, but it plunged in 2023 as its growth and profits fell. However, the stock now seems to be regaining its footing after starting to implement its "Back to Basics" plan and benefiting from changing consumer shopping patterns. The company showed off these trends in its first-quarter earnings report as same-store sales ticked up 2.4%, driving net sales up 5.3% to $10.4 billion, which beat estimates at $10.29 billion. Dollar General benefited from initiatives it took as part of its Back to Basics plan, including reducing out-of-stocks and ensuring that the point-of-sale area was adequately staffed, but management also said that it was benefiting from consumers' trading down in an apparent response to concerns about tariffs and a weakening economy. After several quarters of declining profits, Dollar General reversed course, posting a 5.5% increase in operating profit to $576.1 million, and earnings per share was up 7.9% to $1.78, which topped the consensus at $1.49. It also raised its guidance for the year as it now sees revenue growth of 3.7% to 4.7%, up from 3.4% to 4.4%, and earnings per share of $5.20 to $5.80, up from an earlier range of $5.10 to $5.80. The rest of the month was mostly uneventful for the retailer, though Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from buy to neutral on June 24, and the stock shrugged off that downgrade. What's next for Dollar General The retailer appears to be benefiting from the current macro environment and is getting back on track after the latest report. While the company still has work to do to execute on the turnaround, Dollar General has a lot of upside potential over the long term, as the stock would double just by getting back to its previous peak. Should you invest $1,000 in Dollar General right now? Before you buy stock in Dollar General, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Dollar General wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $722,181!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $968,402!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,069% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to177%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025
