Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani, is warning that President Donald Trump‘s world is “fracturing” amid Elon Musk‘s rebuke of his sweeping spending bill and other recent policy moves.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a key avenue for Republicans to advance the White House’s agenda following the widespread GOP victories in the November election.
Key Republican holdouts in the House and Senate have voiced opposition to the bill, citing concerns that it would increase the national debt, among other worries.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, former Department of Government Efficiency chief Musk bashed the piece of legislation, saying, “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.”
Musk doubled down in another X post on Wednesday: “A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn’t massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS.”
What To Know
In a Substack article published on Wednesday, Parnas mentioned Musk’s recent shift against the president’s beloved legislation.
“I’ve been warning you for months now — there are real cracks forming inside Trump’s world. And not just little disagreements behind the scenes,” Parnas wrote. “The latest — and loudest — break came from Elon Musk.”
Parnas said that Musk was “paraded around the White House” in the first few months of Trump’s second term, but the Tesla billionaire is no longer “playing” along.
The former Giuliani associate is a Ukrainian American businessman who was convicted in 2021 of fraud and campaign finance crimes. He was then sentenced to 20 months in prison.
“I’ve seen how this works from the inside,” Parnas wrote. “When loyalty turns to silence, and silence turns to defiance — it’s over. The myth of Trump’s control starts to collapse.”
“But Elon is just the loudest crack. The truth is, Trump’s empire is fracturing on every front,” he added.
Parnas went on to note that policy decisions, such as tariffs, praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the acceptance of a Qatari airliner, are also causing cracks in Trump’s world.
“And I’m telling you now: the very foundation of Trump’s power — fear and obedience — is crumbling,” Parnas wrote. “Elon might be the first to break publicly, but he won’t be the last. There are lawmakers. There are donors. There are insiders. I promise you, they are rattled. And some of them are looking for a way out.”
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump, Monday on Truth Social: “So many false statements are being made about ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,’ but what nobody understands is that it’s the single biggest Spending Cut in History, by far! But there will be NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.”
Trump continued: “In fact, they will be saved from the incompetence of the Democrats. The Democrats, who have totally lost their confidence and their way, are saying whatever comes to mind — Anything to win! They suffered the Greatest Humiliation in the History of Politics, and they’re desperate to get back on their game, but they won’t be able to do that because their Policies are so bad, in fact, they would lead to the Destruction of our Country, and almost did.”
The president concluded, “The only ‘cutting’ we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn’t.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday: “Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”
What Happens Next
Trump has set a deadline for Senate Republicans to pass the bill and have it on his desk before July 4. It is unclear whether Republican senators will garner enough votes to get it done.
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