Trump wrote:

"Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can't stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!"

This came less than three months after an equally unhinged post by Trump denouncing Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) for opposing the same legislation:

"Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic "NO" vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him. He's just another GRANDSTANDER, who's too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Chaney before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won't stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS???"

Elon Musk—former leader of the failed DOGE attempt to cut $2,000 billion from annual spending and rumored to be a likely financier of Republican primary challengers—is not a taker. Musk responded to the attack on Senator Paul with an X post expressing his own low opinion of the bill and its supporters:

"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 knows from first-hand experience with DOGE that there is still a lot that could be cut from spending that wasn't. Congressional opponents of the bill share Mr. Musk's frustration that DOGE's efforts were largely in vain. However, there is much more to their opposition to the bill. What the automatic naysayers (who—as Senator Paul pointed out—can count on at least four votes in the Senate) have in common is a desire to reduce deficits while still preventing the previously scheduled tax rate increases.

The dissenter's fiscal policy does require large spending cuts, but they adhere to political principles favoring such cuts. Paul and Massie in particular are champions of individual liberty who want to keep the powers of the federal government strictly confined within the limits prescribed by the Constitution. Senator Paul warned that he is refusing to maintain "Biden spending levels." On the Tucker Carlson Show, Paul's Wisconsin colleague, Senator Ron Johnson, made the same point about the fiscal necessity of rolling spending back to pre-Biden levels. For Senators Johnson and Paul, the bottom line is that spending that forces a $5,000 billion increase in the debt ceiling and violates their libertarian-leaning constitutional principles is totally unacceptable.