Elon Musk unceremoniously steps down from Trump administration

Billionaire Elon Musk has unceremoniously stepped down from his role in the Trump administration after a tumultuous cost-cutting drive during which he upended several federal agencies.

Musk made the announcement on Wednesday, citing disagreement over Donald Trump’s sweeping new spending bill.

‘First buddy’

The departure of Musk who once appointed himself Trump’s “first buddy” was quick and unceremonious.

 It’s a rare public split with Trump from one of his most prominent backers.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” he wrote on his social media platform X.

“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk added.

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Complaint

Musk, who was always at Trump’s side before pulling back to focus on his Space X and Tesla businesses complained that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had become a “whipping boy” for dissatisfaction with the administration.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said in an interview with CBS News on Tuesday.

Trump tasked Musk with cutting government spending as head of DOGE, but after a feverish start, the South African born businessman announced in late April he was mostly stepping back to run his companies again.

Goals

Musk has previously admitted that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several departments were gutted or shut down, according to AFP.

Musk’s own businesses suffered in the meantime.

Protesters against the cost-cutting targeted Tesla dealerships while arsonists even torched a few of the electric vehicles, and the firm’s profits slumped.

After his election victory, Trump picked Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in November 2024 to lead DOGE, noting that they would “pave the way” for the Trump administration to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”

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