special

In brief

• Musk confirmed Wednesday he is stepping down from DOGE, the Trump administration agency he co-founded to fight federal waste.
• His exit, expected by May’s end due to Special Government Employee limits, leaves the agency without either of its original figureheads.
• Despite claiming $175 billion in savings, DOGE has faced backlash over inflated figures, partisan clashes, and a spending surge that Musk says undermines its mission.

Elon Musk confirmed Wednesday that he is stepping down from his position at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump agency he helped launch to combat federal waste.

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

The move was widely expected. As a Special Government Employee, Musk was capped at 130 working days per year—a threshold he was projected to reach by May 30. His departure leaves the agency—initially co-led by himself and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who left in January—without either of its original public faces.

DOGE, named in part as a nod to Musk’s favored crypto Dogecoin, was created to address what Musk termed the “existential” threat of national debt. Its team claims to have saved $175 billion through government cuts, though that figure has been widely disputed.

Musk’s government involvement has paralleled his broader shift toward political activism, which has often drawn criticism. His leadership of DOGE coincided with a spate of scandals and partisan clashes, including lawsuits and public rebukes from figures such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called the initiative a “venue for corruption.”

DOGE’s efforts have also been stymied by Trump’s recent spending spree, with Musk saying a massive new spending bill “undermines” DOGE’s mission.

Reining it in

The fallout of Musk’s dalliance with the White House has hit his companies hard. Tesla, for instance, has seen plunging sales, employee unrest, and brand damage. Pension fund leaders have recently urged Tesla’s board to rein in Musk’s extracurricular activities and demand greater focus on the EV company.

Rumours in April that he would step down from DOGE sent stocks in his companies soaring.

“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” Musk told the Washington Post yesterday. “People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool.”

This week, however, has marked new developments at his companies. The launch of Starship Flight 9 by SpaceX yesterday saw the rocket reach space before it broke apart, with the ship traveling further than the company’s previous two attempts.

Also this week, Neuralink raised $600 million at a $9 billion valuation. At the same time, X also unveiled “X Money,” a very limited-access beta digital wallet linked to the platform and part of a long-term push to create an all-in-one app.

While Musk indicated on a Tesla earnings call in April that he would reduce his time spent on politics and dedicate more attention to his businesses, he isn’t out of politics for good. 

He has signaled continued ties to the Trump administration, retaining a small White House office and committing to “a day or two per week” of government work.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

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