As President Donald Trump signed his landmark legislation on Independence Day — a bill he’s branded “One Big Beautiful Bill” — the renewable energy sector is bracing for what many are calling a policy gut punch.

Touted as a sweeping package of tax cuts and spending rollbacks, the bill’s most consequential target is the green energy industry, which now faces the rollback of the very federal support that helped it scale. Chief among the changes is the rapid phase-out of long-standing federal tax credits that enabled developers of solar and wind projects to recoup 30% or more of their project costs. These incentives — once essential to the industry’s expansion across rural and industrial America — will now vanish in a matter of months.

The Joint Committee on Taxation projects that axing this green credit alone will “save” the government $165 billion over the next decade. The total projected savings under Chapter 5 of the bill — dubbed the “Green New Deal Repeal” section — exceed half a trillion dollars, making it one of the bill’s largest cost-cutting components.

Fossil Fuel Revival

But the legislation doesn’t just phase out subsidies. It tilts the playing field decisively back toward fossil fuels.

The bill opens vast new areas of federal land to oil and gas leasing and lowers royalty rates for drilling, reviving incentives that had been curbed in past administrations. It also calls for a full-scale replenishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move the White House says will ensure “American energy dominance” in the event of global supply disruptions.

Trump’s legislation also introduces a new tax break aimed at domestic production of metallurgical coal — used in steelmaking — by reclassifying it as a “strategic mineral.” The new designation will allow companies to benefit from preferential tax treatment and easier permitting rules, signaling a return to coal not just as a legacy fuel, but as a critical industrial resource.

Meanwhile, electric vehicles take a hit. The bill eliminates federal tax credits for EV buyers, a change likely to ripple through the auto industry just as major manufacturers were ramping up U.S.-based EV production to meet future demand.

A Near Miss for Solar and Wind

The final text of the bill could have been even harsher. A proposed 20% excise tax on wind and solar projects that use Chinese-made components — which would have added steep costs to projects across the country — was ultimately scrapped during last-minute negotiations. Senate Republican leaders reportedly dropped the provision to avoid fracturing industry support in GOP-led states where wind and solar provide jobs and local tax revenue.

Still, the damage is significant. Industry analysts warn that without the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Production Tax Credit (PTC), many renewable energy projects may stall or be canceled altogether. With financing costs already high and project pipelines dependent on predictability, the sudden policy reversal could put thousands of jobs at risk and dry up billions in private-sector investment.

While the administration celebrates the bill as a win for taxpayers and “American energy independence,” clean energy advocates say it sends a stark message that Washington is backing away from decarbonization.

Environmental groups have accused Trump of engineering a regulatory bonanza for oil and coal interests at the expense of the planet.

But for Trump and congressional Republicans, the bill marks a defining legislative achievement — a sweeping repudiation of Biden-era climate priorities and the latest move in a broader strategy to reassert fossil fuel dominance as a national strength.

“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said during his inauguration speech. “We will be a rich nation again and it is the liquid gold under our feet that will help us do it.”

The question now is how quickly the renewable sector can adapt — or whether it can survive the political headwinds at all.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a massive and controversial tax and spending package during a theatrical Independence Day celebration on the White House South Lawn—an event rich in pageantry and politics, but shadowed by the economic and social upheaval the legislation is expected to unleash across the country.

With red, white, and blue bunting draped across the White House, and fighter jets roaring overhead in a choreographed flyover, Trump used the moment to portray himself as a president who delivers—on the battlefield, in the courtroom, and now in Congress.

“Promises made, promises kept—and we’ve kept them,” he declared, moments before using a ceremonial gavel gifted by House Speaker Mike Johnson to seal the bill’s passage.

The signing capped weeks of bruising intraparty wrangling and a months-long legislative slog, as Republicans rushed to pass the multitrillion-dollar package before Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. The final law extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, eliminates taxes on tips and Social Security income, and makes sweeping cuts to Medicaid and food stamp programs—long-standing Republican targets that now stand gutted.

A Fight on the Right: Trump vs. His Base

But beyond its staggering fiscal scope and deeply polarizing content, the bill’s passage is also notable for the political firestorm it ignited within the president’s own party. In achieving what may be his most consequential legislative victory to date, Trump bulldozed opposition not just from Democrats, but from prominent voices on the right, including allies like Elon Musk and high-profile conservative lawmakers who openly questioned the bill’s long-term consequences.

For months, Trump lobbied aggressively to unify Republicans around the bill, knowing it would face total resistance from Democrats. But the real battle played out within the GOP itself.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk—long seen as an unofficial Trump adviser and one of his most influential outside supporters—publicly opposed the legislation’s size and scope, especially provisions cutting funding for tech-friendly energy programs and expanding federal surveillance under the guise of immigration enforcement. Musk reportedly urged congressional allies to vote against the bill, arguing it betrayed “economic freedom” and marked a return to “bloated federal overreach.”

His resistance was part of a broader split on the American right, where fiscal conservatives and libertarian-leaning Republicans balked at the bill’s $3.3 trillion projected impact on the national debt. In the House, two Republicans broke ranks—most notably Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a libertarian conservative who has frequently clashed with Trump despite aligning with him ideologically. Massie condemned the package as “fiscally insane” and a “betrayal of the limited government principles the party once claimed to stand for.”

In the Senate, North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis went a step further, publicly opposing the bill and announcing he would not seek reelection. Tillis had long warned that slashing healthcare access for millions while handing tax breaks to billionaires would backfire politically. His stance earned him the ire of Trump’s political apparatus, which swiftly began supporting potential challengers for his Senate seat.

The legislation narrowly passed the Senate thanks to Vice President J.D. Vance, who broke a 50-50 tie by casting the deciding vote. Though once a Trump skeptic, Vance has emerged as a reliable enforcer of the president’s agenda.

A Full-Scale Dismantling of the Democratic Legacy

The bill marks a sweeping rejection of the policy architecture laid by former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. It repeals large parts of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, claws back climate-related tax credits enacted under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, and guts key provisions aimed at helping low-income families.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the package will push nearly 12 million Americans off health coverage and reduce food assistance eligibility for millions more. At the same time, it devotes tens of billions to building new migrant detention centers, expands federal immigration enforcement, and beefs up surveillance programs across the southern border.

Trump defended the cuts as necessary tradeoffs to spur what he described as an “economic rocket ship.” Speaking to Fourth of July attendees before signing the bill, he said, “We’re going to make this country the strongest, the richest, and the freest it’s ever been. That starts with getting Washington out of your pocket and your doctor’s office.”

Democrats were quick to respond. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin condemned the law as “devastating,” accusing Trump and Republicans of “handing billionaires a $5 trillion gift while robbing working families of basic dignity.”

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler echoed the criticism, calling the bill “the worst job-killing legislation in modern history” and warning it would leave tens of millions “more vulnerable, more desperate, and more disposable.”

A Campaign Blueprint—and a Midterm Battleground

As the fireworks display began and Trump and First Lady Melania danced on the Truman Balcony to “Y.M.C.A.”—a now-familiar campaign anthem—the president’s political machine was already shifting into campaign mode. The White House framed the bill not just as a policy achievement, but as the cornerstone of Trump’s 2026 midterm strategy.

Party officials confirmed that Republican leadership is planning a “victory tour” to showcase the bill’s key promises in swing states, while Democrats are preparing to use it as a rallying cry for what they say is a betrayal of the American working class.

Plans for nationwide rallies, protest vigils, voter registration drives, and targeted ad campaigns are already underway. The DNC has reportedly commissioned a series of attack ads focused on Republicans in vulnerable districts, tying them directly to the Medicaid and food stamp cuts, and the bill’s $3.3 trillion projected addition to the national debt.

Polls show a country divided. A Washington Post/Ipsos survey found that while most Americans support eliminating taxes on tips and boosting child tax credits, majorities oppose slashing food assistance and expanding immigration detention spending. Nearly 60 percent said it was “unacceptable” for the bill to increase the national debt beyond its current $36 trillion level.

For Trump, however, the legislative win is personal. After a flurry of Supreme Court victories and a show of military strength following the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last month, the budget bill adds to a string of momentum that could shape the tone of the 2026 elections.

But even some within his party warn that the bill’s real consequences may only be felt months from now—when families begin losing Medicaid, food insecurity spikes, and the debt begins to climb faster than projected.

Billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday announced the formation of a new political organization called the “America Party,” declaring it a movement to “give Americans back your freedom” and break what he described as a corrupt, single-party system in Washington.

The announcement came a day after Musk ran a poll on his platform, X, in which he claimed a 2-to-1 majority of users backed the creation of the new party.

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” Musk wrote on X Saturday, formalizing a move he has been hinting at for months amid escalating tensions with President Donald Trump and mounting frustration over the direction of national policy.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who was the largest political donor of the 2024 election cycle—contributing more than $280 million, most of it to Trump and Republican congressional candidates—now appears poised to become a disruptive force in the 2026 midterms. His announcement follows weeks of public criticism of Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda and an acrimonious online feud that has seen the once-allied moguls turn on each other.

A Rift Between Former Allies

Musk’s launch of a political party marks a dramatic break with Trump, who once counted him as a close ally and tapped him to lead a controversial initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The office, established early in Trump’s second term to streamline federal spending and dismantle government agencies, was driven in part by Musk’s libertarian leanings and push for bureaucratic overhaul.

But that partnership soured after Musk stepped down from his DOGE post in May, just as Trump was rallying Republican lawmakers to pass his mammoth budget bill—legislation Musk sharply opposed.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS, that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk fumed on X earlier this week, criticizing both Republicans and Democrats for what he called “unrestrained greed.”

While Musk’s new “America Party” has not yet been registered with the Federal Election Commission, he laid out an aggressive preliminary vision on Friday: targeting 2–3 Senate seats and 8–10 House districts to act as a swing bloc in Congress.

“Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people,” Musk said.

Musk added that the America Party would caucus independently and negotiate legislation with both Republicans and Democrats. He has yet to provide a clear policy platform but has repeatedly emphasized fiscal restraint, civil liberties, and opposition to “big government” in recent posts.

His involvement in competitive congressional races could have an outsized impact. In 2024, Musk’s donations helped propel several Republican candidates in key swing states. Now, with his vast resources and influence—especially on digital platforms—he could become a kingmaker or spoiler, depending on how the new party fields candidates.

Although Musk has not said whether he intends to run for office himself or merely back others, the creation of the party may signal a broader political realignment, particularly among independents and libertarian-leaning conservatives disillusioned with Trump’s hardline populism and Democrats’ progressive spending priorities.

How Realistic Is The American Party?

Neither Trump nor the Republican National Committee has formally commented on Musk’s announcement, though sources close to the Trump campaign said the president viewed Musk’s move as “irrelevant theatrics.” Some GOP lawmakers have downplayed the impact, suggesting Musk’s break may end up benefiting Democrats by siphoning off right-leaning voters.

Democrats, meanwhile, reacted cautiously. While Musk’s opposition to the new budget law aligns with their criticism of its massive tax cuts and steep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, his history of inflammatory posts and alignment with Trump’s early agenda have made him a polarizing figure on the left.

Political strategists are watching closely to see whether the America Party becomes a formal political force or fizzles out like other third-party efforts in U.S. history. Musk’s vast wealth, cultural influence, and command of the digital media ecosystem give him advantages that past independent candidates lacked. But the risks of ballot access restrictions, institutional opposition, and voter skepticism remain high.

However, Musk’s declaration signals a deepening fracture in Trump-era conservatism and suggests that the fallout from the president’s domestic agenda may not be limited to Democrats.

“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” Musk wrote this week.