When Elon Musk tried to assure Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that he would soon cut back on his work with the federal government, the pressure on his situation was heard.
The world’s wealthiest person says he will continue to argue that the Trump administration should lower its tariffs on countries around the world. But he admitted in a soft voice whether President Trump would “refer to him by my advice.”
He is not very punished, but Mr. Musk is different from a few months ago when his power peaked billionaire wielded a chain at a pro-Trump conference to dramatize his role as a government robber.
At that time, Mr. Musk was undoubtedly a Washington force, driving a radical change in the entire administration. He is a genius for the president. For Democrats, he is Mr. Trump’s “unelected co-president.” For several cabinet secretaries, he is a threat. For Republican lawmakers, he is the source of painful calls from voters, whose services and work are threatened by the Department of Government Efficiency cuts.
With Mr. Musk spending less time in Washington, it is unclear whether his bold plans for the federal bureaucracy will have lasting power. The work has left a huge mark on the government, and Mr. Musk told his accomplices that he believes he has established the structure that makes Doge successful. But he still hasn’t cut the $1 trillion he vowed to find in waste, fraud and abuse.
Mr. Trump has limited some of Mr. Musk’s influence over the past two months, telling the cabinet secretary that they are in charge of their institutions. But the president also told the secretary to cut spending together with Mr Musk and Mr Toger. Meanwhile, Mr. Musk has publicly and privately swayed the president’s steep tariffs threatening the manufacturing and profits of his auto company Tesla.
Mr. Musk told friends that he was frustrated by the encounter of Mr. Trump’s trade adviser, who, according to a person who told the conversation, had private discussions on the situation while anonymous. According to two people who know their conversation, the billionaire tried to work behind the scenes to convince Trump to abandon his tough trade protectionist posture.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for Mr. Musk declined to comment. Trump said Wednesday that the billionaire “has been a huge help in the campaign and what he did to Doge.”
“He is always simple at the moment,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Shaun Maguire, Mr. Musk’s closest friend and adviser to Digg officials, said he believes efforts without Mr. Musk’s full-time participation will flourish. He compared the Doge to the Falcon 9 Rocket – even if the rocket is separated from the engine, the initial thrust of energy can power the Rocket.
“At this point, the Rocket Shop is only a few hundred kilometers from Earth, but it has escaped gravity and can enter the solar system,” Maguire said. “The Governor has escaped DC’s gravity well.”
Mr. Magel, who participated in an interview with the Pentagon appointment during the presidential transition, said: “History will be very favorable to judge Duge, far beyond what it is today.”
Mr. Musk has placed Doge Allies in the federal government and seeks to remove certain institutions, including the U.S. International Development Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
The New York Times has identified more than 60 employees for Mr. Musk’s hard work, although some have since left the federal government. Many have worked with private sector billionaires, including at least 20 people with ties to Musk. Doge is led by Steve Davis, Mr. Musk’s top consultant and executor.
Doge staff have overturned objections from professional civil servants at the Social Security and IRS to access close data on immigration. In the Social Security Database, Musk’s team built a system to list their claim that living immigrants were criminals dead in an effort to get them out of financial services and force them to leave the country.
All in all, Doge attempted to access more than 80 data systems at least 10 federal agencies, the New York Times found. These data sets include personal information about federal workers, detailed financial data about federal procurement and expenditures, and intimate personal details about the U.S. public.
Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers watched anxiously as Mr. Musk took risky political fluctuations at the institutions thousands of Americans depended on.
At the Social Security Agency, much-needed policy changes have led to overwhelming on-site offices of beneficiaries of panic. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ back-school policies and layoffs for probation employees have damaged the agency’s mental health program and threatened the ability to conduct medical research.
Mr. Musk joined the Trump administration, claiming he would find the government cost savings so much that budget experts sounded impossible.
In February, the group released an online “receipt wall” detailing the savings of thousands of canceled grants, contracts and office rentals. But the website includes the claim that the cancellation of the same “billion” as “million,” double or triple count, even received praise for canceling the plan to end with George W. Bush as president.
Earlier this month, at a cabinet meeting, Mr. Musk said he has cut $150 billion so far from next year’s federal budget, far less than the $1 trillion he claims he would withdraw.
Doge has triggered a sharp cut in budgets for the federal workforce and certain institutions. However, it is difficult to measure exactly how much money it saves, as Doge’s public claims are full of errors and guesses, which swells its success.
According to people familiar with Mr. Trump’s views, Mr. Musk’s cuts to the administration are politically expensive, but he still maintains good credibility with the president.
Despite some of Mr. Trump’s close aides and advisers arguing with Mr. Musk, the president still praised him on almost every opportunity, but still invited him to hang out at the club and take his children.
Mr. Trump told advisers that Mr. Musk was doing his best for him. And he felt sad about the left-wing “crazy” who attacked Tesla dealerships in protest of Mr. Musk’s role in the Trump administration. Mr. Trump also respects the power of Mr. Musk’s social media platform X, even if the president retains business interest in his own platform truth society.
Trump occasionally told colleagues privately that it might be time for Mr. Musk to move on and spend more time with his company. But the president is unlikely to put pressure on Mr. Musk to leave, or do anything that deliberately alienates him. Colleagues noted that he still thanked Mr. Musk for his hundreds of millions of dollars in elections in 2024 and noted that Mr. Musk promised to give Mr. Trump an additional $100 million in political action.
Mr. Musk is now the financial cornerstone of the Republican Party and he will maintain a huge influence as long as he wants to continue to participate in politics.
Still, Mr. Trump recognizes the problems Mr. Musk has caused, for example, his plan to introduce sensitive national security matters to the Pentagon in China – even the president described it as a conflict of interest without informing him of the meeting in advance, according to people familiar with what was happening. When Mr. Trump learned of the potential meeting from news reports, it was the first time that people close to the president remembered him being dissatisfied with Mr. Musk.
Mr. Trump also admitted to advisers that Mr. Musk stumbled upon political forces — especially his expensive long-term efforts to flip the seat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Mr. Trump, a student with public opinion, focused on the position of billionaires in the polls, noting any signs that Mr. Musk is deeply unpopular with him may divert.
But people close to Trump also said that Mr. Musk was helpful as a “heat shield” and absorbed ruthless attacks that would have been targeted at the president.
On Tuesday, Mr. Musk told analysts he plans to delegate his government work back “one or two a week” to shift his attention to the company. Administration officials who know Mr. Musk’s schedule said they have noticed he has reduced his time in Washington.
By dialing back the number of days he worked in the White House, Mr. Musk could also extend the 130 days he was assigned as a “special government employee.”
Zach Montague,,,,, Emily Badger,,,,, Wilson Andrews and Alexandra Berzon Contribution report.
