‘My time is up,’ Elon Musk says goodbye to the Trump administration

 

‘My time is up,’ Elon Musk says goodbye to the Trump administration

 

 

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has officially stepped down from his position after just five months in the Trump administration.

According to the Financial Times, Elon Musk was working as a senior advisor in the White House and headed the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). During this time, he worked to promote austerity in the government.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Musk said, “My term as a special government employee has ended, and I thank President Trump for giving me the opportunity to cut wasteful spending.”

Musk, the world’s richest person, was working under a category of “special government employee” in the US civil service, which prevents government employees from serving more than 130 days in a year.

However, Musk’s original intention was to continue leading DOGE until next summer and, according to sources, officials believed there were some alternative ways to keep him on for a longer period.

Musk indicated that the campaign would continue without him. He further wrote on X, “The Dodge mission will grow stronger over time, as it becomes a way of life across the entire government system.”

 

Musk’s “departure” process has begun, according to a White House official.

Musk had originally promised to cut up to $2 trillion from the annual federal budget, about a third of total government spending. However, as of May, Dodge had only shown $175 billion in savings, and many of those line items could not be verified, according to the Financial Times.

In recent weeks, Tesla’s chief executive has blamed lawmakers for Dodge’s slow progress and criticized the Republican tax bill that recently passed the House of Representatives, which is Trump’s top priority in Congress.

The bill, which still needs to be approved by the Senate, is estimated to add more than $3.3 trillion to the US deficit over the next decade.

“I think a bill can be either big or beautiful, but not both,” Musk told CBS in an interview.

Musk has a net worth of more than $428 billion, according to Forbes, and he was Trump’s biggest financial backer in the 2024 election campaign, contributing more than $250 million to his campaign. However, he recently said he would spend “significantly less” on future campaigns, as he has already made a lot of political donations.

In recent weeks, Musk has vowed to return to full-time business, especially as Tesla’s sales have fallen, partly due to his association with the Trump administration.