Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk leaves Trump administration but vows DOGE will only 'strengthen'
Elon Musk has left his position at the White House, ITV News' Will Tullis reports.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has announced he is leaving his position as top adviser to the White House.
His time was marked by thousands of job layoffs, department closures, nazi salutes, and a Silicon Valley approach to government of "move fast and break things".
It was this approach that appeared to cause the most difficulty for the CEO, who quickly found that while running government may not, as some think, be like running a household - it is not like running a tech startup either.
Heading up the newly created and meme adjacent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk set a lofty $2 trillion goal in reducing federal spending - something he twice revised down, landing at a reduced $150 billion.
The CEO frequently clashed with government officials pushing back at his attempted reforms, often voicing frustration with the pace of change.
'The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised,' he told The Washington Post. 'I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.'
Whether in cabinet boardrooms or the Oval Office the sight of an exasperated Musk explaining his actions to reporters and Trump's cabinet became a repeated motif, if only for the reaction shots of incredulous government officials.
"Some of the things that I say will be incorrect," he once told reporters and government employees, a response to claiming and informing the president the Biden administration had been sending condoms to Hamas - apparently confusing the African province of Gaza with the Middle Eastern territory of the same name.
Musk's role working for Trump was always meant to be temporary, and he had recently signaled that he would be shifting his attention back to running his businesses, such as the electric car company Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.
The former had seen a massive drop in share prices and international backlash as well as vandalism against the cars over Musk's involvement with Trump's government.
President Trump even turned the White House lawn into a temporary showroom for the electric cars, urging Americans to follow his example and buy one as DOGE's affects on Tesla saw sales slump.
'He's built this great company, and he shouldn't be penalised because he's a patriot.'
The show of support for electric cars from a President who as recently as 2023 was telling his supporters: 'They don't go far. They cost a fortune," only went so far.
Musk was asked how he was able to continue running both companies amid the ongoing government chaos - he replied, "with great difficulty".
Elon Musk's relationship with President Trump was an unconventional one, the former receiving apparently unprecedented access to government data and seemingly untethered powers with little to zero oversight.
Many credit Musk with President Trump's decisive election victory having funneled close to $300 million into Donald Trump's campaign, using his social media platform X to mobilise supporters.
The CEO and MAGA-land did not always see eye to eye though.
Earlier this year Musk clashed with Trump voters over H-1B visas, a route to US citizenship used by the South African himself as well as heavily used through his companies. On this occasion the president fell in line, marking a departure from the opposition to H-1B's he showed in his first term.
More recently the Tesla boss has voiced criticism for Trump's flagship spending bill which prioritises tax cuts and immigration enforcement.
Describing it as a "massive spending bill" that "undermines the work" of Doge, Elon Musk said: 'I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful, but I don't know if it could be both.'
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, thanked Musk for his work and promised to pursue more spending cuts in the future, saying, 'the House is eager and ready to act on DOGE's findings'.
Echoing this sentiment, Musk said in his own announcement of his departure "The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.'
While attempts are being made to at least give the appearance of an amicable breakup, others paint a different picture.
Asked recently whether he would continue to spend such large amounts of his own money on politics, the billionaire said simply "No - I think I've done enough." Some may wonder if he really believes he has.
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