Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has officially stepped down from his role as a Special Government Employee in the Trump administration, amid mounting political tensions and growing pressure to refocus on his struggling business ventures.
In a post on X, Musk expressed gratitude to former President Donald Trump for the opportunity to contribute to cutting government waste, referencing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump 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,” Musk wrote.
Musk’s departure coincides with a challenging phase for his companies. According to CNN, Tesla is grappling with declining sales, the Cybertruck has failed to impress the market, and X (formerly Twitter) has suffered outages and credibility issues following conspiracy-laden posts from its AI chatbot Grok. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s recent Starship launch ended in failure when the rocket spun out of control and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean.
Despite these setbacks, Tesla shares have surged 25% over the past month, signaling investor optimism that Musk is refocusing on his core businesses. The surge is tempered by concerns over Musk’s ability to stabilize Tesla while also delivering on his ambitious promise of launching an autonomous robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in the near future.
In a recent video, Musk voiced disappointment with Trump’s latest spending and tax reform bill, calling it counterproductive to the goals of the DOGE initiative. “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit… and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said, adding, “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both.”
Although Musk is stepping away, the DOGE initiative is expected to continue, with staffers embedded across various federal agencies to maintain its mission of increasing governmental efficiency.
