Apparently, zero. As I predicted, not only is Musk gone from the White House, but he did in fact wear out his welcome and now we are seeing what usually happens when two massive egos collide. While some are saying this is just a ruse by Trump and Musk to get changes to the big ugly bill, I don’t believe that for a second. This was inevitable, as Musk is used to controlling every last detail of anything he is involved in and Trump has a similar mentality and is never going to let anyone control more of the room than he does. In terms of the immediate cause of the rupture–the Republicans failure to do diddly-squat about the deficit and debt, Musk is 100% right. Trump just wants to get something done without offending anyone too much–he let’s his mouth do that. I don’t think this is a good development. It may help Reps a bit in that Musk will no longer be a flash point. But the party needs Musk and his tech brethern. And it just adds to the picture of a chaotic administration. Trump needs to get a bill done, hopefully one that adds less to the deficit, and he needs a bunch of good trade deals to put all the tariff/trade volatility to rest. Then he will have a good basis for victory heading into the midterms.
This blow up is similar to the trump tilleson blow up 8 years ago.
Tilleson had some of the best geopolitical knowledge
Powerline has a different take on this issue that favors passing the BBB and questions Musk’s credibility in opposition (https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/06/musk-v-trump.php). If the BBB fails, the cumulative result will be worse than only the increase in Federal debt, which is inevitable. If DOGE cuts can continue, and some removal of fraud in SS, MC, defense + some income from tariffs + some GDP growth (3%), then the debt problem might not be so bad. However, is Federal debt is > total GDP, and if interest in the debt is > economic growth……we are screwed.
I am going to respectively disagree with John here. this bill continues the reckless deficit spending and tax breaks for the wealthy that has gone on under Rep and Dem administrations for 25 years. this bill isn’t the only option, we will get some reconciliation bill and the final product could be a lot better in terms of dealing with the debt problem.
As Kevin notes
Neither the dems of the the republicans are being adults