President Donald Trump has told his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping back from his current role though Trump is very happy with whatever Elon Musk is doing, according to reports. A Politico report said that the decision is not his unilateral and both Trump and Musk discussed it in recent days and it will soon be time for Musk to return to his businesses. “He’s got a big company to run … At some point he’s going to be going back,” Trump reportedly said about Elon Musk. “He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him.”
Trump said that the heads of agencies who worked with DOGE learned a lot and there will be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work, Axios reported.
“Musk’s looming retreat comes as some Trump administration insiders and many outside allies have become frustrated with his unpredictability and increasingly view the billionaire as a political liability, a dynamic that was thrown into stark relief Tuesday when a conservative judge Musk vocally supported lost his bid for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by 10 points,” the Politico report said.
DOGE, Tesla Takedown and silent exit?
Elon Musk’s entry into Donald Trump’s inner circle happened before the election when he endorsed Trump unequivocally. His promotion was rapid as he became the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and then the sole head. With a mandate to cut down the expenses of the government, he freely wielded his chainsaw with the approval of the President and suggested shutting down several departments, curtailing the function of some others. As his DOGE is still at their one-year mandate, Elon Musk attempted to play a bigger role in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election but fell flat as Brad Schimel, the candidate he was backing lost to Susan Crawford.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s business took a major hit with Tesla shares plunging amid a global call to ‘Takedown Tesla’ by protesters who do not want Elon Musk’s interference in the government.
Musk is likely to retain an informal role
The Politico report quoted one senior administration official who said Elon Musk is likely to retain an informal role as an adviser. But another said Musk is not going anywhere and those who think Musk is going to disappear entirely from Trump’s orbit are fooling themselves.
130-day special government employee status
Elon Musk was made a special government employee — who join the government for a short period of time — by the Trump administration. The time frame is 130 days or less. In a recent interview with Fox News, Musk spoke about how the maximum of his work is supposed to be done within 130 days. If the 130-day count started on Jan. 20, Musk would be done at the end of May. If only weekdays are counted, his tenure could stretch into July.
