Another Republican senator has sided with Elon Musk in the budding MAGA civil war regarding President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, slammed the mega bill as “grotesque,” telling CNBC it is irresponsible for Republicans to vote in favor of a budget that he claims will add to the federal deficit.
“This is immoral what us old farts are doing to our young people,” he said. “This is grotesque, what we’re doing. We need to own up to that. This is our moment. I can’t accept this scenario. I can’t accept it, so I won’t vote for it unless we are serious about fixing it.”
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Johnson, 70, said he is confident Trump’s bill, which narrowly passed the House of Representatives with only Republican support, will not survive the Senate in its current state. He warned the White House not to challenge him, claiming he has the Republican votes to back up his opposition.
In addition to Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who has already publicly voiced opposition to the bill, Johnson said that Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah have quietly signaled their opposition to the mega bill as well.
If true, opposition from that quartet alone is enough to nullify the GOP’s three-seat majority in the Senate. Johnson suggested there are even more Republicans who are on their side.
“There’s enough of us who have that attitude that, very respectfully, we just have to say, ‘Mr. President, I’m sorry, but one big beautiful bill was not the best idea,’” he said.
Other Republicans who have expressed reservations with portions of the bill, particularly proposed cuts to Medicaid and healthcare funding, include Sens. Steve Daines, James Lankford, Josh Hawley, and Susan Collins.
Johnson claimed his opposition is pressure-proof.
“The president and Senate leadership have to understand that we’re serious,” he said. “They all say, ‘Oh, we can pressure these guys.’ No, you can’t.”
If Trump disagrees, Johnson invited the president to challenge him.
“If the White House just comes and starts insulting us, I’m sorry, I’ve got the numbers to back myself up, and if my numbers are off, fine, prove me wrong,” he said. “But I think I have the numbers, which is, I think, one of the reasons they probably won’t insult me, and that’s good.”
Trump took aim at Paul in a Tuesday morning tirade over his opposition to his mega bill, which he refers to as the “BBB.”
“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming,” he wrote. “He loves voting ‘NO’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!”
Musk, who was Trump’s right-hand man in the early days of MAGA 2.0 but appears to have since fallen out of favor, went nuclear on the president’s bill on Tuesday.
The world’s richest man said the bill was “outrageous,” “pork-filled,” and a “disgusting abomination” that will “increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
Trump has so far bitten his tongue regarding Musk, whom he shepherded out of the government last week with an Oval Office press conference to mark the end of his tumultuous tenure leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk has only elevated his attacks against the bill and those who support it. He said on Tuesday that “we” should “fire all politicians who betrayed the American people” in next year’s midterms. He has stopped short of criticizing Trump by name, however.
