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Musk’s Short but Turbulent Innings in Trump Administration Come to an Abrupt End

May 29, 2025

(3 Minutes Read)

Musk wanted to shrink the government operations and propounded the policy of liberal involvement of the private sector, which he believed would lead to more efficiency and cut wasteful expenditure. Several Federal agencies were upended, and thousands of jobs were axed.

Controversial South African-born billionaire, Elon Musk, has left United States President Donald Trump’s administration. In the last election, he acted as a close confidant and funder of Trump’s campaign.

Musk was a special employee with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which triggered many controversies. Some of the Republican senior members openly fought with him at the policy level. Many influential politicians from both Democrats and Republicans openly disagreed with his policies and approach to administration. During his office tenure, he mostly cut down aid and several other packages specially targeted at poorer countries, including the dismantling of the USAID.

While the billionaire’s role in the administration was temporary, and therefore his exit was expected, it came a day after he criticised Trump’s tax and spending bill, the centrepiece of the president’s agenda. Musk described the so-called “big, beautiful bill” as a “disappointment” saying it was too expensive and would undermine his work at DOGE.

His departure was unceremonious. On Wednesday took to his social media platform X to thank Trump for his time in the administration. He said he was ending his government work to spend more time on his companies, which include Tesla and SpaceX.

Musk’s political activities have been criticised, with some of his investors calling for him to leave the government to focus on managing Tesla, which has seen falls in sales and its stock price. There are reports that his departure from the government agency may not create any personal rupture with Trump. People close to him said that both would remain close friends, while Musk, from now onwards, will focus on his global business empire, which, according to some reports, had to take severe beatings because of his preoccupation with political administration.

Many feel that the recent tryst with the administration did not have any parallels in the recent history of the US since business and politics ordinarily maintained a firewall. This time, it was a different story because President Trump himself is a successful businessman, and the ideological similarity would have brought the two uncharacteristic businessmen together.