Republicans dismiss threat to Trump’s tax bill from Elon Musk

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Top Republicans have brushed aside concerns that Donald Trump’s landmark tax bill risks being derailed by his extraordinary clash with Elon Musk as the party closes ranks around the US president. 

The two men fell out in dramatic fashion on Thursday after a spat triggered by disagreements over the president’s “big beautiful bill” erupted into an all out feud that some feared could scupper the legislation.

But senior Republicans have rallied around the president, insisting that the tech mogul has little leverage to convince lawmakers to break with Trump. 

“I’ll tell you what, do not doubt and do not second-guess and don’t ever challenge the president of the United States,” Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, warned on Friday.

Musk ratcheted up his rhetoric against the legislation this week, branding it a “disgusting abomination” before attacking Trump directly, calling for him to be impeached, threatening to start a rival party, and suggesting he had links with the disgraced financier and child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 

Allies of both Trump and Musk have urged the pair to repair their relations amid fears of a widening fissure within the Republican coalition and a breakdown of the relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley.

But the immediate fear among some in the party was that it would derail Trump’s landmark bill.

“This has been like an aeroplane going through severe turbulence, with Musk unleashing all of his issues with the bill,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist. “However, it’s still flying. It’s still moving through the air,” he added. “And it’s likely going to continue on the course that’s been projected.”

The legislation, which extends tax cuts introduced by the president in 2017 while slashing social programmes, has already proved controversial. Congress’s fiscal watchdog has warned it would add $2.4tn to the US debt.

Musk said this week that the “outrageous, pork-filled” bill would “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit”. But Trump responded that the billionaire was just bitter that the legislation scrapped tax breaks for electric vehicles.

The bill narrowly passed in the House of Representatives last month but faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where fiscal hawks have recoiled from its price tag.

Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said after the spat broke out that the bill was “on life support” and called for it to be scrapped. 

“If the Senate thinks they’re going to rehabilitate it and rewrite it, I think they’re endangering this patient,” said Massie, one of the few Republican congressmen to vote against the bill in the House after raising concerns about its impact on the deficit.

But party operatives said there was little appetite among lawmakers to break with the president.

“The drama might increase, and the process might slow down,” said Ken Spain, a Republican strategist. “But ultimately Congressional Republicans will take their cues from Trump and for the president, failure is not an option.” 

Some said that the feud would ultimately help the bill’s passage by making senators uncomfortable aligning themselves with the billionaire Tesla owner. 

“Musk is actually pretty unpopular among most of the members of the Senate, and frankly, most of the members of the administration. The only one who really liked him was Trump,” said John Feehery, another Republican strategist. 

“The sum of this is that this is going to make it easier for the Republicans to pass BBB, rather than harder. Because people rally to Trump and they’re not going to want to be seen on the same side as Elon Musk.”

Trump has told Congress to pass the bill and send it to his desk to be signed into law by July 4, which some party officials conceded was ambitious.

Clayton Allen, US director at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said it was “unlikely that the spat will impact the timing of passage”. He put its odds of the legislation’s passing by Trump’s July 4 deadline at 70 per cent — and 80 per cent by Congress’s August recess.

One lobbyist who has been working closely with congressional staff on parts of the legislation said the Musk-Trump fall out was little more than a “sideshow”.

“Some of the bigger differences between the House and Senate bills will still have to be hammered out, but those are member to member conversations,” the lobbyist said.

“Once they’re all close to an agreement, the only person who can play closer is the president.”