Key points
- Musk has thanked Trump for opportunity to help run DOGE
- DOGE mission will only strengthen over time: Musk
- The development comes a day after Musk criticised legislative centrepiece of Trump’s agenda
ISLAMABAD: Billionaire Elon Musk has said that he is leaving the Trump administration after helping lead a tumultuous drive to shrink the size of US government that saw thousands of federal jobs axed, BBC reported.
In a post on his social media platform X, he thanked Trump for the opportunity to help run the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.
“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” he added.
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.
The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025
His role was temporary and his exit is not unexpected, but it comes a day after Musk criticised the legislative centrepiece of Trump’s agenda.
“Budget deficit”
AFP reported that the South African-born tech tycoon had said Trump’s bill would increase the deficit and undermine the work of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has fired tens of thousands of people.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” AFP cited Musk as saying.
Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” — which passed the US House last week and now moves to the Senate — offers sprawling tax relief and spending cuts and is the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.
But critics warn it will decimate health care and balloon the national deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade, AFP reported.
“Major factors”
Musk blamed entrenched US bureaucracy for DOGE’s failure to achieve all of its goals — although reports say his domineering style and lack of familiarity with the currents of Washington politics were also major factors, according to AFP.
Musk has previously admitted that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several departments were gutted or shut down. Musk’s own businesses suffered in the meantime.
Protesters against the cost-cutting targeted Tesla dealerships while arsonists even torched a few of the electric vehicles, and the firm’s profits slumped, according to AFP.
“People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool,” Musk told the Post.
Musk has also been focusing on Space X after a series of fiery setbacks to his dreams of colonizing Mars — the latest of which came on Tuesday when its prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean.
