The public rift between President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has escalated, with Musk repeatedly blasting the Trump-backed spending bill on X, calling it bloated, irresponsible and dangerous to the nation’s finances.
Now, O’Leary Ventures chairman and “Shark Tank” personality, Kevin O’Leary, is weighing in, offering insight into what may have sparked Musk’s strong opposition. According to O’Leary, it was a chart shared by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that jolted Musk into action.
“Ron Johnson put out a graph a couple of days ago. A chart, very simple chart. Simply says, look, even during Trump’s first term, deficits were under a trillion dollars,” O’Leary said on “The Evening Edit” Thursday. “Then we have this pandemic, and every administration and every budget post the pandemic have $2 trillion-plus deficits.”
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O’Leary believes Musk saw the numbers and was stunned.
“That’s what got Elon fired off. He looked at that chart, too, and said, ‘Wait a second, why do we have to spend $2 trillion more than we need to?’” O’Leary said.
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Musk’s criticism of the bill, already passed by the House and awaiting a Senate vote, has centered on its staggering price tag and the increase it would bring to the national debt. He hasn’t held back online.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote Tuesday on X. “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.”
The national debt currently tops $36 trillion. While the bill includes $3 trillion in tax cuts for Americans, it’s projected to add $2.4 trillion to the deficit.
Beyond the headline numbers, O’Leary says another provision in the bill is also drawing concern, particularly among business leaders and lawmakers.
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“One of the tweaks that’s being worked on that’s freaked out a lot [of] senators is this idea of empowering the IRS to audit businesses for nine years that took ERC tax credits,” O’Leary noted. “That’s a non-starter, so I’m sure they’re going to work on that language.”
