Elon Musk Exits Trump Administration After Clashing Over Budget

Key Highlights

• Musk Ends Government Role: Elon Musk left his role as a special government employee under the Trump administration after reaching his 130-day term limit and expressing dissatisfaction with Trump’s budget bill.
• DOGE Controversy: Musk was part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aimed to cut federal spending but led to over 260,000 federal job losses, prompting legal challenges and public backlash.
• Business Setbacks & Criticism: Musk faced criticism for his government role, especially as Tesla reported its steepest-ever drop in car deliveries, prompting him to shift focus back to his companies.

According to Musk, he will leave the Trump administration following an effort to reduce the size of the US government which caused thousands of federal jobs to be lost.

Recently, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, took to X to say he appreciated President Trump’s offer to join Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. The White House removed Musk from his position as a special government employee late Wednesday, according to the BBC. Even though he was only meant to be there temporarily, it isn’t surprising to see him leave given that on the previous day Elon Musk had gone after the main achievement of Trump’s legislative program.

"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," Musk wrote on X.

"The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."

As a “special government employee,” the South African-born tech tycoon could take on federal work for a maximum of 130 days a year. If you begin at Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, he would have reached this maximum by the final days of May. But his departure comes one day after he said he was unhappy with Trump's budget bill which includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts and increases defense spending.

Also Read: Elon Musk's DOGE Cuts USD 135 Mn in Funding to Combat Deepfakes

In an interview with BBC's US partner CBS, SpaceX and Tesla boss said Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill would create more debt for the federal government. According to Musk, this happens at the expense of what Dogecoin represents."I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful," Musk said. "But I don't know if it could be both."

At the start, Musk said he was aiming to save at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, yet later lowered his goal to $1 trillion and then down to $150 billion. More than 260,000 of the 2.3 million federal employees are believed to have lost their jobs because of Doge. Federal judges have stopped many mass firings and asked that employees who were let go be reinstated.

Musk said in late April that he would again focus on running his companies after being heavily criticized for supporting the Trump administration’s effort to shake up Washington. "Doge is just becoming the whipping boy for everything," Musk told the Washington Post in Texas on Tuesday ahead of a Space X launch.

Musk was in government at the time when his electric car company had a major fall in sales. The company delivered fewer cars than expected at the start of the year, marking its biggest decrease ever.