Elon Musk is stepping down from his role as the guiding force behind the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, a position he has held for the past 130 days, on Friday, following legal setbacks, clashes with Cabinet members, and a lack of evidence to support claims of savings or government efficiency.
During his 130-day tenure, Musk faced rising unfavourability numbers, financial stress on his business empire, and a rift between the world’s richest man and its most powerful political leader. His journey was not without challenges.
Framing his departure as the end of his “scheduled time” as a special government employee, Musk’s departure from the federal government will likely do little to change DOGE’s work carrying out Trump’s vision of shrinking the federal bureaucracy and purging it of people and programs that the president disagrees with.
However, many of Musk’s allies are embedded across federal agencies as full-time employees, such as a group of young staffers based in the General Services Administration who have been attempting to expand DOGE’s reach beyond the executive branch — in some cases, even trying to embed it in non-governmental and non-executive branch entities.
Other lawsuits have focused on one area where DOGE has seen great success: amassing sensitive government data and combining it into massive databases. Multiple federal judges have raised concerns about DOGE’s data access and its intended use. In some cases, it appears DOGE and the Trump administration are using the data for immigration enforcement purposes.
Musk’s golden chainsaw lost its teeth
Before joining the second Trump administration, Musk had a lofty goal of slashing $2 trillion from the federal budget. Earlier this year, Musk famously took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, wielding a chainsaw to illustrate his push to cut spending. However, his target number was revised downward multiple times, eventually landing at around $150 billion, which he claimed would be saved by the end of the fiscal year in September.
NPR’s reporting has repeatedly found DOGE’s savings claims to be overstated, inaccurate, and rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of how the federal budget works.
Musk’s push for a mandate that federal employees should send short emails listing weekly accomplishments was overruled by some Cabinet heads. It was one of several ways his Silicon Valley background clashed with the ways of Washington.
Reporting from NPR and other outlets has highlighted numerous examples of DOGE-led changes that have likely made the government less efficient. That includes initiatives such as the elimination of a tech unit within GSA that helped improve digital services across agencies, despite encouraging a return-to-office push despite shortages of desks, internet access, and even toilet paper, as well as spending freezes on government payment cards that disrupted workers’ ability to purchase basic supplies and more.
Trump gives Elon Musk an Oval Office sendoff
Trump credited Musk with “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and said some of his staff would remain in the administration.
“I think the DOGE team is doing an incredible job,” Musk said after accepting a ceremonial key from the president. “They’re going to continue to be doing an incredible job.”
Trump said Musk had led the “most sweeping and consequential government reform effort in generations.” He suggested that Musk is “really not leaving” and “he’s going to be back and forth” to keep tabs on what’s happening in the administration.
“This will be his last day, but not really, because he will always be with us, helping all the way,” Trump wrote on social media on Thursday evening. “Elon is terrific!”
What’s next for Musk?
As Musk exits the federal government, his return to his multiple companies, especially Tesla, his primary source of wealth, could herald significant developments in the business world.
As Musk’s DOGE work ramped up, Tesla owners sold their cars, storefronts were vandalized, and profits dropped, with some reports suggesting that the automaker’s board was considering replacing Musk.
Musk has already pivoted more of his prolific posting on his social media site X to Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink, though not before announcing his departure from the federal government, promising that DOGE would only grow stronger “as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Source: www.npr.org and AOL