In Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Invoice: Quantity 1, the Bride doesn’t simply search revenge—she attracts blood with class, precision, and a katana. Elon Musk, freshly unshackled from his stint inside Trump’s authorities, appears to be channelling the identical vitality—solely this time, the blade is fiscal self-discipline, and the goal is Donald Trump’s so-called “One Large Lovely Invoice.”On Wednesday, Musk tweeted to his 180 million followers with a message that might’ve come straight out of Tarantino’s trailer: “Name your Senator. Name your Congressman. Bankrupting America is NOT okay! KILL the BILL.” Connected was a photoshopped poster of Kill Invoice, with Trump’s face clumsily plastered over David Carradine’s and the invoice clutched like a samurai scroll of doom.The Invoice in query? H.R.1, handed by the Home on Could 22. A sprawling $4 trillion mega-package that extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, pumps funds into border safety, expands defence spending—and raises the debt ceiling to eyewatering new heights. MAGA Republicans name it “historic.” Musk calls it “a disgusting abomination.”
From DOGE to Doomsayer
Solely days in the past, Musk was working contained in the stomach of the beast as head of DOGE—Trump’s sarcastically titled Division of Authorities Effectivity. Appointed as a “particular authorities worker,” he spent 130 days attempting to trim Washington’s flab. At this time, he’s torching it from the surface.“This huge, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending invoice is a disgusting abomination,” Musk posted on X. “Disgrace on those that voted for it: you understand you probably did improper.”He adopted up with a flurry of financial memes, deficit graphs, and that now-viral Kill Invoice parody poster, placing him squarely at odds with the very president who as soon as known as him “America’s Tech Da Vinci.”
Debt Slavery and GOP Dissonance
Musk didn’t cease at aesthetics. He’s gone full Paul Revere with PowerPoint slides. Calling the invoice “Debt Slavery,” he warned that America is “within the quick lane to fiscal suicide.” By his math, the laws may blow the deficit previous $2.5 trillion and inflate the nationwide debt by as a lot as $5 trillion—figures echoed, although barely extra cautiously, by the Congressional Funds Workplace.“This spending invoice incorporates the biggest improve within the debt ceiling in US historical past!” Musk wrote. “Congress is making America bankrupt.”Some within the GOP are rattled. Musk was the biggest Republican donor of the 2024 election cycle—and now he’s threatening to fund major challenges in opposition to any lawmaker backing the invoice. “In November subsequent 12 months, we fireplace all politicians who betrayed the American individuals,” he posted, turning his cash cannon on the very celebration he helped prop up.
Trump’s Cool, Congress’s Calculus
The White Home, in the meantime, responded with Trumpian defiance. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shrugged it off: “That is one large, lovely invoice, and he’s sticking to it.”Trump even posted a nostalgic screenshot of Musk thanking him for the DOGE appointment—equal components reminder and rebuke. Home Speaker Mike Johnson tried to achieve out. Musk left him on learn, then shared a video clip of Johnson’s defence of the invoice with a blunt caption: “We’d like a brand new invoice that doesn’t develop the deficit.”Senator Kevin Cramer was much less involved. “I don’t assume very many senators are that fascinated with what Elon has to say,” he instructed reporters. “It’s amusing. However we’re critical policymakers.”
Elon and Donald: The Fallout
Some males marketing campaign. Elon Musk campaigned on one thing. What that “one thing” was, in hindsight, looks like a mixture of politics, prescription drugs, vainness, and chaos idea.The Ketamine CandidateMusk’s drug use didn’t start with the Trump marketing campaign—it merely turned extra theatrical. Whereas the Wall Avenue Journal had reported as early as 2023 that Tesla board members have been alarmed by his use of Ambien, The New York Occasions now paints a darker image.By 2024, Musk was reportedly taking ketamine so regularly it affected his bladder perform. MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms adopted, typically at non-public events throughout the globe. One picture reviewed by NYT confirmed a capsule organiser containing round 20 substances—some labelled as Adderall.The impact? Public incoherence, non-public panic. What Musk claimed was bi-weekly therapeutic use regarded, to many insiders, like each day microcosmic meltdown.The Marketing campaign Path Turns into a Custody BattleMusk didn’t simply endorse Trump—he virtually embedded himself within the marketing campaign. He appeared at rallies, introduced his son X into the Oval Workplace, and travelled with the kid on the path.Grimes, the boy’s mom, objected—saying it violated a custody settlement. However that was only one chapter in Musk’s home cleaning soap opera. In February, right-wing influencer Ashley St. Clair revealed she had given beginning to Musk’s 14th youngster. She claimed Musk supplied $15 million and $100,000 a month to maintain it quiet. When she refused, Musk filed for a gag order.Concurrently, Neuralink govt Shivon Zilis was pregnant with two extra of Musk’s kids through surrogate—reportedly unaware of St. Clair. If his public persona was spiralling, his non-public life was already in freefall.Governing with a ChainsawContained in the administration, issues have been simply as unhinged. After Trump’s win, Musk helped design DOGE, rented a cottage at Mar-a-Lago, and joined transition calls with overseas leaders. However colleagues shortly turned alarmed.He insulted cupboard members, confirmed up disoriented to briefings, and raised eyebrows on the inauguration with what neuroscientist Philip Low later condemned as a Nazi-style salute. At CPAC, he donned sun shades, accepted a chainsaw on stage, and delivered a efficiency that many stated regarded extra like Burning Man than Beltway.His exit in Could 2025 wasn’t stunning. The one shock was that it hadn’t come sooner.Exit WoundsMusk’s departure from authorities wasn’t a clear break. It was a scorched-earth retreat. He arrived as a tech messiah, a billionaire savant right here to trim the fats of presidency. He left as a psychedelic Cassandra—raging on social media, estranged from his allies, and battling laws he as soon as helped form.
