Spanish
"Upon concluding my term as Special Government Employee, I want to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce unnecessary spending," he said Wednesday about his work leading the DOGE, created in his image to "reduce waste" in the federal government.
When his office was created, it was announced that his work was to conclude on July 4, 2026, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
But Musk now leaves his position as advisor to the White House, taking advantage of the legal limit of 130 days that his contract as a temporary employee had, which expires.
From Donor to Government Employee
During the 2024 presidential campaign, the magnate of South African origin became one of the main donors of the then-candidate Trump, whom he accompanied in rallies and fundraising events.
His popularity among the tech community and his influence on X, owned by the richest man in the world, helped to amplify the Republican's message.
The owner of Tesla and SpaceX devoted himself fully to his tasks as advisor and leader of DOGE after the inauguration ceremony last January, in which he occupied a privileged position.
His participation in cabinet meetings, something unprecedented for a temporary employee, demonstrated the closeness to Trump, who sat in February alongside Musk in a joint interview with the Fox network, where both lavished praise on each other.
In the first four months of Trump's second term, DOGE has cut the Government, dismissing at least 121,000 employees, dismantling several federal agencies, and suspending international aid programs, actions that have been challenged in courts.
Musk himself set a goal to save $1 trillion for the public coffers, but then reduced the size of his cuts to $150 billion.
Media outlets such as The Washington Post revealed that DOGE exaggerated the amount saved, which ultimately amounts to about 9.3 billion.
The Trump administration has been vague about the magnitude of the work and the scope of DOGE, also the target of several lawsuits for its opacity and the access of its workers to sensitive information.
Attacks on Tesla and criticism of Trump's fiscal megaproject
Musk's increasing involvement in politics led to a drop in the popularity of the magnate and his companies.
Attacks against Tesla vehicles and protests in front of dealerships contributed to a 71% drop in the company's profits in the first quarter of the year.
With the increase in pressure on their businesses, frustration with Washington also arrived. "The situation of the federal bureaucracy is much worse than I thought," he told The Washington Post.In April, he expressed disagreements with the tariff war launched by Trump and also announced that, little by little, he would be leaving his responsibilities in the DOGE.
His criticisms this week of the ambitious fiscal and budgetary plan promoted by Trump were a sign of rupture and a prelude to his definitive departure: he denounced that the bill approved by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate "undermines" his work to cut waste and, instead, adds to the public deficit.
"Frankly, I was disappointed," Musk stated in an interview with CBS.
His departure leaves DOGE's leadership in a limbo and seems to mark the beginning of a step back in his political involvement.
"I did what needed to be done," Musk said at the Qatar Economic Forum last week. "As for political spending, I'm going to reduce it a lot in the future," he stated.Yeny García
