Feud erupts as Elon attacks Republicans in surprise move - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

looks like we've got Republicans in
disarray as Elon Musk took to Twitter
today to attack his own party writing
"I'm sorry but I just can't stand it
anymore this massive outrageous pork-
filled congressional spending bill is
a disgusting abomination shame on those
who voted for it you know you did wrong
you know it." And then followed up with
another tweet it will massively increase
the already gigantic budget deficit to
$2.5 trillion and burden American
citizens with crushingly unsustainable
debt now I have two thoughts here that
may seem in conflict with each other but
they're not the first is that Elon Musk
is correct this bill is massive
outrageous and an abomination the
Republicans who voted for it absolutely
know that they did wrong it will
increase the already gigantic budget and
burden American citizens with crushingly
unsustainable debt all of that is true
and it's all worthy of being said and
anyone who claims they're a fiscal
conservative who votes for this bill has
exposed themselves as a huge hypocrite
but here's the second part Elon Musk is
just as guilty as everyone else for the
fact that our government is exploding
our deficit the guy came into government
as a special government employee for the
express purpose of cutting $2 trillion
in waste fraud and abuse but we set up
Doge yes how much do you think we can
rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion
Harris Biden budget well I I think we we
could do at least two trillion yeah
yes two trillion and then the goalpost
moved and how much do you think you've
achieved so far our goal is to reduce
the deficit by a trillion dollars um so
it from a nominal deficit of 2 trillion
to try to cut the deficit in half to 1
trillion um or looked at it in total
federal spending to drop the federal
spending from 7 trillion to 6 trillion
and then the goalpost moved again
um well thanks to uh your fantastic
leadership this amazing cabinet and the
very talented DOGE team I'm excited to
announce that uh we we we anticipate
savings in FY26 from reduction of waste
and fraud by $150 billion
but hey you know what let's give Elon
the benefit of the doubt notwithstanding
the shifting goalpost as it relates to
savings if your calling is cutting
spending and you've got cart blanche to
do it what agency do you think you start
with probably the one that's failed
seven audits in a row right and yet Elon
didn't touch the Pentagon he instead
went after USAD which accounts for all
of 1/2 of 1% of the budget the
agency that's responsible for delivering
clean food and water and HIV prevention
to the impoverished across the world but
that agency was investigating Elon's
Starlink and so they got gutted he then
went after the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau the CFPB whose only
job is to protect consumers from
predatory financial institutions and
returned $21 billion thus far to
defrauded customers but that agency was
fielding 300 complaints about Tesla and
would have had oversight into X's
payment processing and so they got
gutted in fact every single agency that
Elon went after USAD CFPB Department of
Labor NLRB EPA DOT USDA just so happened
to be performing oversight into him or
SpaceX or Starlink or Tesla and all of
those agencies were in some fashion
gutted in total Elon promised $2
trillion in cuts that was whittled
down to $18 billion which is not even 1%
of the promised cuts and that's because
Elon wasn't actually interested in
cutting waste fraud and abuse he was
interested in gutting the agencies
regulating him and his business
interests that's what this was it was
self-dealing with virtuous window dressing
which is to say nothing of the fact that
he also managed to nab some real juicy
government contracts like the $560
million for SpaceX since January 2025
the $5.9 billion Pentagon contract for
the National Security Space Launch
Program the 38.8 8 million NASA contract
awarded in February the White House is
now using Starlink the FAA is exploring
a deal with Starlink to help modernize
air traffic control and you know the
golden dome nonsense that Donald Trump
is selling over and over again yeah
guess who's the front runner in a bid
for that project to the tune of $25
billion that would be Elon SpaceX most
of that funding comes from the Pentagon
which might explain why despite this
crusade against waste fraud and abuse
the only agency that emerged unscathed
was the one agency that can't pass an
audit for its life the Pentagon the
poster child for waste fraud and abuse
didn't get touched by the commission
purportedly committed to rooting out
waste fraud and abuse again this has
nothing to do with saving money for the
country and everything to do with saving
money for Elon Musk so when he comes
online and virtue signals about waste
fraud and abuse and exploding the
deficit dude's got no leg to stand on he
had every resource of the federal
government made available to him he had
Trump's full blessing he had a
completely chicken impotent
Congress that wasn't willing to lift a
finger to push back on him if he really
wanted to cut all of that purported
waste he could have done it instead he
gutted a bunch of essential agencies
that protect consumers and keep the
impoverished alive across the world he
fired a bunch of veterans and left his
own cash cows completely intact all
because he wanted to consolidate more
money more wealth more power more
influence for himself Elon Musk is a
greedy kleptocrat who's got blood on his
hands if he wants to complain about pork
about self-dealing about out of control
spending he might want to consult a
mirror and that's a point that Jessica
Tarlov made on Fox here let's also talk
about the clear failure of Doge based on
their own set goals we started at two
trillion then we moved to 1 trillion now
we're at 160 billion but yeah for now
right it keeps adding up well it is a
problem you want to always compare i
didn't see Congress doing that
if you wanted which you always do to
compare this to private sector standards
if you hired McKenzie to come in and to
cut two trillion then they said "Oh
we'll get you 1 billion." and they say
we'll get you 160 billion you'd say
you're not doing a very good job and
also maybe you were spreading lies about
what's actually going on in the federal
government a day so far but the real
story of Doge is that Elon Musk has 38
billion in government contracts has not
had a penny of his money touched while
he's going around cutting other people's
contracts and there was a new
congressional report out this week that
found that he was up for 2.37 billion in
potential fines across 11 agencies and
what has he been doing he has been
cutting the people who are investigating
him if that doesn't smell like
corruption I don't know what does in
fact the only person who seems not to
understand what a sham DOGE was is Elon
Musk himself considering even Donald
Trump is reportedly skeptical about the
point of the whole commission according
to the Wall Street Journal President
Trump recently posed an evocative
question to his advisers about
billionaire Elon Musk's promise to slash
$1 trillion in government spending quote
"Was it all bullshit?" Trump asked
according to administration officials
wondering whether Musk could have ever
come close to the cuts he promised to
carry out through the Department of
Government Efficiency so Musk will
undoubtedly continue grandstanding about
waste fraud and abuse and our bloated
budgets and irresponsible Republican
budget bills but his hands are the
dirtiest of all i don't know if the
alleged ketamine is clouding his memory
but let's not forget that Elon had the
opportunity to help on an issue that he
himself called essential and instead he
opted to help himself