Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has officially ended his brief but highly publicised stint in the Trump administration, where he led a controversial drive to drastically shrink the US federal workforce.
Musk announced his departure late Wednesday via a post on his social media platform, X, thanking former President Donald Trump for the opportunity to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency—dubbed “Doge”—a special unit tasked with cutting government spending and bureaucracy.
“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.”
The White House began formally “offboarding” Musk on Wednesday night, sources confirmed to the BBC. His role, designated under the federal classification of a “special government employee,” was capped at 130 working days per year—time he has now fulfilled, measured from Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
While Musk’s departure had been expected, its timing has drawn attention, coming just one day after he publicly criticised Trump’s new budget bill. Speaking in a CBS interview, Musk said the legislation—which includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a significant boost to defense spending—would balloon the federal deficit and “undermines the work” of Doge.
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk quipped. “But I don’t know if it can be both.”
Musk had initially pledged to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget. That ambitious target was quickly revised downward—first to $1 trillion, then $150 billion—as Doge faced logistical and legal hurdles. Roughly 260,000 federal civilian employees, out of 2.3 million, have reportedly lost their jobs or accepted redundancy packages. Some layoffs were later overturned by federal judges, who deemed them unlawful.
Among the casualties of the chaotic downsizing effort were employees working on sensitive projects, including at the US nuclear program, who were mistakenly terminated.
Musk has acknowledged the political and public backlash. In an April interview with the Washington Post, he lamented, “Doge is just becoming the whipping boy for everything. Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.”
The fallout wasn’t limited to government. Musk’s involvement with Doge coincided with significant turmoil at Tesla. The electric vehicle maker reported a 13% drop in deliveries in the first quarter—its worst on record. Tesla’s stock plunged by as much as 45% before partially recovering. Activists staged protests at dealerships, vandalized vehicles and charging stations, and called for consumer boycotts. The backlash prompted US Attorney General Pam Bondi to warn that acts of vandalism against Tesla would be prosecuted as “domestic terrorism.”
Facing mounting pressure, Musk told investors last month he would “allocate far more of my time to Tesla” and confirmed his commitment to lead the company for the next five years. He has also pledged to reduce political donations after spending nearly $300 million backing Trump and Republican candidates in 2024.
Though Musk’s exit marks the end of a headline-grabbing chapter in Trump’s return to Washington, questions remain about the legacy and long-term impact of Doge.
As Musk himself noted, “The Doge mission will only strengthen over time”—but whether that mission survives without him at the helm remains to be seen.
Chioma Kalu
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