For Elon Musk and Donald Trump, it's not goodbye, it's see you later

Yahoo

6 days ago

He arrived with a bang, leaping in the air at a campaign rally beside Donald Trump, pledging allegiance to the soon-to-be president last year.
He left with a tweet, announcing that his time as a special government employee was over.
In between, Elon Musk anointed himself Mr Trump's 'first buddy,' took a hatchet to government jobs and spending, and made himself a regular presence at the White House, holding court in the Oval Office and at Cabinet meetings.
His departure was well signposted. Mr Musk offered frequent public reminders that his post was time-limited to 130 days, and in the past month gave briefings and interviews setting out what he had achieved with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) while proclaiming his tech businesses as his first love.
'Is Buddha needed for Buddhism?' he asked, suggesting he had set up the conditions for his work to continue in his absence.
His 130 days are up on Friday.
White House insiders, who took pains to avoid the world's richest man and his lair in the wood-panelled War Secretary's Office, scoffed at the choreographed exit and any notion that Mr Musk was keeping to a schedule.
This, after all, is a president who can upend the law on a whim and could have used any manner of loopholes to keep Mr Musk at his side for longer than 130 days.
'I can't believe you are even asking why he left. Look at the numbers,' said one.
Tesla, his electric car company, saw earnings collapse and a string of celebrities, horrified by Mr Musk's place at the heart of the Trump administration, switched to other car makers in a flurry of self-righteous Instagram posts.
The company saw its net income collapse by 71 per cent during the first quarter. And the latest data from Europe show sales have fallen there by 50 per cent.
There were even headlines at the start of the month that its board was looking for a new chief executive.
Meanwhile, Mr Musk's companies took a big reputational hit. An Axios Harris Poll published recently showed that Tesla and SpaceX, another of Mr Musk's interests, saw their public standing fall. Tesla went from eighth in a league table of America's most visible companies four years ago to 95th now.
It ranked 100th in 'character.'
'I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,' Mr Musk said in an interview with Ars Technica, a tech news outlet.
Yet it hasn't all been bad news for the world's richest man. His own wealth has exploded during his time in Washington, DC.
The Forbes Rich List estimates that his personal wealth has increased by $90 billion in just the past month, giving him an overall fortune of almost $432 billion.
Tesla's income may have plunged, but its share price is still almost 50 per cent higher than it was on election day.
And the State Department has even pushed countries to licence his Starlink satellite service as part of international trade deals.
Even so, Mr Musk's departure was marked by headlines describing him as a 'disillusioned' figure leaving Washington with his tail between his legs after falling out with the president.
To be sure, this week he made his feelings clear on Mr Trump's 'big beautiful bill' of tax and spending cuts.
He told CBS he was 'disappointed to see the massive spending bill, which increases the budget deficit... and undermines the work that the Doge team is doing'.
Yet talk of a Trump-Musk bust up does not reach far beyond the headlines. Insiders say they remain tight and the tech billionaire has the sort of wealth that makes him a natural fit for Team Trump.
In recent weeks, every time Mr Musk took a step back he would pop up again a few days later, appearing in the middle of the president's trip to the Middle East, for example.
Barbara Res, who described her 18-years working for the Trump Organisation in her memoir Tower of Lies, said the president was clearly enjoying basking in his association with the world's richest man.
'He will think that his choice of listening to this person and making it public is an act of brilliance, the act of the great businessman,' she said.
'He can say: 'I found this person who sees things the way I see him, and I'm going to put him in charge.'
That will come as some relief to Republicans, facing tough midterm elections next year.
Mr Musk was the biggest Trump donor last year, spending more than $200 million, and has promised $100 million for allies next year.
None of that money has been paid yet and, although Mr Musk has suggested he will be less active in politics next year, don't be surprised if he pops back up on the campaign trail or at the White House in the weeks and months to come.
While that may be reassuring for campaign strategists, it is less so for White House staffers.
'I spent most of the time trying to avoid him,' said one insider, who only half joked about Mr Musk's chainsaw-wielding image. 'The last thing anyone needed was to be on his radar.'
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