Elon Musk Quits Trump Government, Says DOGE Will Still Move On
Musk Bows Out of Trump’s Government, Says DOGE Will Outlive Him
Elon Musk, the South African-born billionaire and owner of Tesla and SpaceX, has officially left his position in the Trump administration after leading the Department of Government Efficiency, popularly known as DOGE.
Musk made the announcement on his social media platform X, where he wrote
, “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.“
Musk’s role in the government was always meant to be temporary. According to reports, the White House started the process of removing him from his post on Wednesday night.
As a “special government employee,” Musk was only allowed to work for 130 days each year, and by the end of May, he had reached that limit.
Many people were not surprised by his exit, but the timing raised eyebrows because it came just after Musk openly criticised President Trump’s main budget plan.
In a recent interview, Musk did not hide his disappointment with Trump’s new budget bill. He said,
“I am disappointed with the budget bill. It proposes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a boost to defence spending, but it would increase the federal deficit.“
Musk also said,
“It undermines the work of DOGE. I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful, but I don’t know if it could be both.”
This statement was seen by many as a direct attack on the president’s economic policy.
During his time at DOGE, Musk promised to cut waste in government. He boldly declared at the beginning, “We will cut at least $2 trillion from the federal government budget,” but later reduced his target, first to $1 trillion, and then finally to $150 billion.
Under his leadership, about 260,000 federal workers either lost their jobs or took redundancy deals. This was out of the total federal workforce of 2.3 million people.
Some of these sackings were challenged in court, and federal judges ordered that some of the affected workers, including those in the US nuclear programme, be reinstated.
The speed and scale of the job cuts led to confusion and mistakes. Some workers were mistakenly sacked, and there were reports of important departments losing key staff.
Musk expressed his frustration, saying, “Doge is just becoming the whipping boy for everything. Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.“
Musk’s involvement in politics also had a negative effect on his businesses. Tesla, his electric car company, saw its sales drop by 13% in the first three months of the year, the biggest fall in the company’s history.
The share price also crashed by as much as 45%, although it later recovered and is now only down by about 10%.
Tesla recently warned investors that the financial challenges might continue, and that “changing political sentiment could meaningfully hurt demand for the vehicles.”
The backlash against Musk did not end there. Activists called for a boycott of Tesla, staged protests outside Tesla dealerships, and even vandalised Tesla cars and charging stations.
The US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, had to warn that such acts of vandalism would be treated as “domestic terrorism.”
Musk, feeling the heat, told investors on a recent earnings call,
“The time I allocate to DOGE will drop significantly, and I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla.”
He also announced that he would cut back on his political donations, after spending almost $300 million to support Trump’s campaign and other Republican politicians last year.
Despite all the drama, Musk assured the public that DOGE will continue its mission.
He said, “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” However, many people are now wondering if DOGE will still have the same impact without Musk’s bold leadership.
Elon Musk’s time in the Trump government was full of controversy, bold decisions, and plenty of drama. As he returns to focus on his companies, all eyes will be on DOGE to see if the agency can still deliver on its promise to cut government waste and make efficiency a “way of life” in Washington.
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