With friends like Elon, who needs enemies?

Smart people can be really dumb. Sometimes it’s preferable to just be brilliant, rather than genius. For the majority of us in the middle of the Bell Curve, being smart-enough is sufficient to be commonsense conservatives.

Elon Musk is in the genius category, and comes with some of the hazards associated with a high IQ. Indeed, he is capable of stupidity, sometimes in business (Tesla Cybertruck “Armour glass” demonstration and overpaying for Twitter, are just two examples). And sometimes in politics, as evidenced by calling the big, beautiful bill (BBB) a “pork-filled, disgusting abomination.”

As stark as that criticism is, he was just getting warmed up. He just claimed that the BBB will condemn America to “debt slavery,” while urging lawmakers to “Kill the Bill.” That’s where being too smart for one’s own good usurps common sense.

I wouldn’t know, but I’m told that geniuses are often on the cusp of madness. Surely, it is simply mad to hand slubberdegullion socialists some unearned political ammunition. Their 2026 campaign ads about MAGA’s signature legislation will write themselves — courtesy of a temperamental Elon. Or has he simply gone mental?

President Trump recently said that “Elon Musk hasn’t asked me for anything.” Maybe he should have asked for extension of the EV tax credits in the BBB. Trump may have denied the request, but at least Elon’s tantrums would have played out before we got to this critical juncture (and, hopefully, in private).

Instead, the BBB cuts billions of dollars in EV tax credits—while Musk at one point fully supported ending these credits, he’s changed his tune, and argues that an incremental phase-out is the way to go.

So, it is other items Elon wants cut, not credits that can be determinative in deciding on purchasing an EV.

The bill eliminates:

* The $7,500 federal tax credit for new EVs
* The $4,000 credit for used EVs
* The $1,000 credit for Level 2 charger installation

It also adds an annual $250 registration free for EVs.

You know the old saying: Everyone is for tax cuts till their ox is getting gored.

This hurts Musk’s business, so he’s against it.

Personally, this is exactly the type of cuts I want to see. There’s no reason a taxpayer who can’t even afford an EV should be subsidizing someone else’s purchase of an EV.

I can see his point on the registration fee. We don’t have a federal registration free on regular cars. Why should EV owners be targeted? The answer, of course, is they are rich and can afford it, but that doesn’t make it right.

Setting aside any Ulterior Motive, Elon does not even grasp the rules for the Budget Reconciliation, which limits what sort of actual spending cuts can be done this way in the BBB.

Nor does Elon understand how profoundly wrong are the CBO projections on deficits in the BBB. Pres. Trump and Mike Johnson, of course, do understand this. As does Newt Gingrich, the only guy in generations, to run surpluses and cut taxes. He had to do this while fighting off big-spending Bill Clinton in the first major government shutdown since the Tyler administration. Newt says straight up — the CBO projections are garbage just like they were in 1990s. He advocates junking the agency entirely.

It would be better to trust the people who have already succeeded at something to tell you what’s going on in that area.

If Elon Musk says something about rockets, or EVs, or even AI, I am all ears. When it comes to cutting taxes and balancing the budget, however, let’s go with someone who actually did it. Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower aren’t around, but Newt sure is.

It also adds an annual $250 registration free for EVs.

That idea seems reasonable, and I'm an EV owner. Everyone should pay his fair share of the road upkeep. But that fee seems a bit high. My take on the math:

The federal gas tax is 18.4¢ / gallon. The proposed $250 EV fee divided by 18.4¢ means the annual EV fee gets a tax equivalent to the gas tax of 1,359 gallons of gas. Even a gas car getting just 20 mpg would still have to be driven 27K miles per year to pay the same gas tax as the suggested EV fee. And, in before the "But EV's are heavier than gas cars"... our EV crossover weighs just 10% more than the old gas crossover it replaced (and about 5% less than our gas pickup).

And that suggested EV fee is on top of the one that many states are charging. When I renew my car tag I have to pay about $200 more for the EV just for it being charged an EV rate over the gas car rate ("rate" means multiplied times the value of the car, since it's ad valorem). Of course, that's for the state to get road upkeep taxes from EV owners like it does for gas owners through the gas tax, which seems reasonable.

“GDP growth is key to reducing our deficits.”

Are we going to get houses 4% bigger each year, doubling in size in 15 years?

Are we going to get vehicles 4% bigger each year, doubling in size in 15 years?

Are kids going to school for 20 years come 2050?

Are we as a society going to medically much sicker?

The SALT cap might be limited to $10,000 instead of $40,000 if the previous fiscal year ended in a deficit in excess of $1.5 trillion.

The corporate tax rate might be raised 1% for every annual deficit in excess of $1.2 trillion.

Income tax bracket inflation adjustment might not be fully done if the previous fiscal year ended in a deficit in excess of $1 trillion.

The overtime tax exemption is unfair to 50-hour/week salaried worker and should be dropped.

The $1000 kiddie handouts should be dropped.

Social Security taxation should be limited to 50% (employer share) and the new deduction dropped.

The Child Tax Credit should be based on the previous fiscal year deficit.

I reconciled my discomfort to Trump’s vulgarisms, Ted Kennedy donations, and lack of religious/philosophical underpinnings because he acted on his promises even against all the Democrats, establishment institutions, and half his party.

I realized that all his foibles are part of the package that make his threats effective. He also loves our country, and has amazing instincts.

Musk is a variant on this. He is a problem solver. Both men are going to have their differences. Neither has a fantastic grasp of the minutiae of law and politics that a Henry Hyde or John East would. But the men who have that aren’t constructed to think outside the box, and plough through.

A Blessing on both their houses. Musk doesn’t have to like the “Big Beautiful Bill” and he doesn’t have to shut up. That wasn’t part of the deal. Trump is also free to call Musk out. It is not the end of the world.

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