 "Back to business: What awaits Elon Musk as he departs Doge and Washington?")
“My scheduled time as a special government employee comes to an end,” wrote Elon Musk on X on Wednesday, announcing that his time as formal adviser to President Donald Trump has now come to an end. This marks the end of the billionaire’s turbulent run at attempting to slash the federal government.
Notably, Musk’s exit comes just a day after he was vocal in his criticism of President Donald Trump’s signature spending bill, saying it counters the work he’s been doing to reduce wasteful government spending. He told CBS News, “I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the Doge team is doing.”
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion,” Musk said in the interview.
Musk’s exit from the administration has been confirmed by a White House official, who said: “The off-boarding process has begun.”
As Trump bids adieu to his ‘First Buddy’, we look to the future — what comes next for the Tesla chief and X owner.
Becoming Trump’s ‘First Buddy’ and Doge leader
In July 2024, Elon Musk endorsed Trump as presidential candidate seconds after an assassination attempt took place against him at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, the two have been inseparable with the tech billionaire even accompanying Trump on stage — bouncing and jumping in support of Trump.
Then, days after Trump was announced the winner in the US presidential elections, he announced that Musk would be leading the new Department of Government Efficiency, also known as Doge with the mandate to slash federal government spending, waste and regulations.
As Doge leader, Musk was often seen with Trump — at Cabinet meetings, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the US president even gave Musk a shoutout during his joint address to Congress, applauding his work at Doge.
But Musk’s time at Doge was controversial — he eliminated some agencies and removed tens of thousands of federal workers from their jobs. However, the initiative fell short of its own high expectations for cost savings.
Trump originally set a deadline of July 4, 2026 to Doge to achieve what Musk had promised —$2 trillion in savings. However, the billionaire then downgraded that to $1 trillion and then further to $150 billion.
Musk’s work at Doge has also drawn several lawsuits and questions of conflict of interest. In fact, his time at Doge caused a severe backlash, which was most visible to his Tesla business. Vehicle sales fell, stock plummeted, and cars and showrooms were vandalised.
But despite it all, Musk continued his slashing efforts until now — May 28.
Musk’s exit from Doge and future of Doge
On May 28, Musk called time on his Doge stint, writing on X, “I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” adding, “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
In fact, even in his previous interviews, the X owner has said that Doge would continue even after his exit. “Doge is a way of life, like Buddhism,” he joked once during a briefing, suggesting that the effort would proceed even after his exit. “Buddha isn’t alive anymore. You wouldn’t ask the question: ‘Who would lead Buddhism?’”
And even others seem to concur that Doge and its efforts would continue despite Musk’s departure. Peter Diamond, a federally licensed tax, accounting, real estate, and structure and certified bankability expert, was quoted as saying earlier, “Elon [Musk] is a master at building high-performing teams and putting mechanisms in place that outlive his involvement. “Just look at PayPal — it’s still thriving decades later. If he chooses to step away from Doge, it won’t be a spur-of-the-moment decision.”
Even Andrew Lokenauth, money expert and founder of Be Fluent in Finance, noted that Musk leaving Doge isn’t the end of the agency. “From my analysis of internal operations, Doge’s structure was heavily dependent on Musk’s personal involvement (about 65 per cent of major decisions required his direct input). The organisation will need major restructuring.”
Musk’s pivot back to business
But what happens to Musk himself? What does the exit from the Trump administration mean for the billionaire himself?
The last few months will provide you with an answer — as Musk has already been stepping away and distancing himself from the administration and Doge. In the last few recent interviews, Musk has emphasised his recommitment to leading SpaceX, Tesla, and the artificial intelligence company xAI. The world’s richest person claimed that he was back to working around the clock at his companies – to the point of sleeping in conference rooms and factory offices once again.
He also attempted to explain away the shortcomings of Doge. For instance, he told the Washington Post on Tuesday, “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”
Musk also told the Post that Doge had been turned into a “whipping boy” that was criticised for anything that went wrong under the Trump administration. In another interview, Musk admitted: “I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics.”
There are also other reports coming in that the billionaire had been put on a deadline by Tesla investors, who asked the board to make him work full-time. As per The Washington Post report, a group of activist Tesla shareholders sent a letter to board chair Robyn Denholm, asking for a guarantee that Musk would devote at least 40 hours a week to the company. The Washington Post further added that the letter was signed by SOC Investment Group.
His recent comments also reflect what’s to be expected of Musk. Musk claims he will focus on saving humanity through technologies like self-driving cars, interplanetary rockets and humanoid robots.
The Guardian put it best: “Rather than dwell on a year of missed targets and intense backlash, Musk is back to selling a future where anything is possible.”
With inputs from agencies
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