Elon Musk is stepping down from his role in the Trump administration after leading a contentious campaign to slash the size of the U.S. federal government.
His departure marks the end of a temporary appointment as a special government employee, a move the White House began formalizing on Wednesday night, according to the BBC.
In a post on X, Musk thanked President Donald Trump for the role, which involved heading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“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,” Musk wrote. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Though Musk’s exit had been anticipated, his designation allowed him to serve up to 130 days a year, its timing follows sharp criticism he leveled at Trump’s budget plan. Musk called the bill, which includes sweeping tax cuts and increased defense spending, “disappointing” and warned it could widen the federal deficit. “I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” he said in an interview with CBS. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”
Musk claimed the budget proposal “undermines the work” of DOGE, a program that led to the elimination or buyout of an estimated 260,000 positions from the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce. Courts have intervened in some instances, ordering the reinstatement of wrongly terminated employees, including personnel from the U.S. nuclear program.
Initially, Musk had vowed to trim $2 trillion from federal spending, but he later revised that figure down to $150 billion. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO became a divisive figure in Washington, facing private clashes with senior Trump administration officials and increasingly public criticism.
“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” Musk told The Washington Post, speaking from Texas ahead of a SpaceX launch. “Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.”
His decision to step back was first announced in April, when Musk said he intended to focus again on his companies. His time in government coincided with a sharp drop in Tesla’s fortunes: a 13% fall in deliveries in the first quarter, its steepest decline ever, and a 45% plunge in stock value, though shares have since partially recovered.
Musk acknowledged during a recent earnings call that he would be “allocating far more of my time to Tesla.” The company, however, warned that “changing political sentiment” could negatively impact demand. Activists have staged protests and vandalism targeting Tesla, prompting U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to describe the acts as “domestic terrorism.”
Speaking at an economic forum in Doha, Qatar, Musk reaffirmed his commitment to Tesla’s leadership for the next five years. Earlier this month, he also pledged to reduce political donations, having spent nearly $300 million backing Trump’s efforts.
In Ghana, however, the head of research at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. John Kwabena Kwakye, proposed the implementation of DOGE in Ghana to curb government waste, urging caution to avoid worsening unemployment and economic hardships.
