Billionaire Elon Musk, who has recently criticised his major ally Donald Trump for the first time, has confirmed he is ending his mission to reduce public spending after a four-month unprecedented experiment.
"As my designated time as a special government employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce unnecessary expenses," Musk stated on X, the social network he owns.
The head of Tesla, SpaceX, and X insisted that the “Doge mission” (his government efficiency commission) will continue to strengthen and become a way of life in the government.
The South African-born billionaire had already announced he would significantly scale back his involvement with the Doge commission to focus on his automotive company, Tesla.
He adopted a notably more critical tone in an interview with CBS. "I was disappointed to see this massive spending bill – frankly – that increases the budget deficit," Musk remarked during the interview, referring to a major economic law from the Republican president.
He also lamented to The Washington Post that Doge is "on the way to becoming the scapegoat for everything."
Dubbed the "big and beautiful law" by Trump, the bill aims to fulfil some key campaign promises, such as extending large tax credits, and is currently under Congressional review.
A non-partisan parliamentary agency analysis suggests the legislation could increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next decade.
“I think a law can be great or it can be beautiful. But I don’t know if it can be both,” Musk commented in his CBS News interview, which will be fully aired on Sunday.
This comment marks the first public crack in an extraordinary political alliance born during Trump’s campaign, which Musk generously funded and further solidified during Trump’s explosive second term.
The wealthy South African-born entrepreneur and the 78-year-old billionaire president were inseparable in the days and weeks following the 20 January inauguration.
Musk’s tall figure, consistently dressed in black and wearing a cap, was omnipresent amid announcements of international aid cuts, federal agency closures, and mass layoffs ordered by the world’s richest man.
However, reports quickly surfaced of friction between Trump’s protégé and ministers, who were frustrated by Musk’s perceived harsh methods and abrasive demeanor.
From the start, Musk’s mission was temporary, with his "special government employee" status limited to 130 days.
In late April, he announced he would step back to focus more on his companies, particularly Tesla, which faced declining sales as Musk became one of the world’s most polarising figures.
In Europe, Tesla’s sales halved in April, which have been partly attributed to Musk's political activism in favour of fringe European far-right parties.
On Saturday, after a brief outage of X’s network, Musk wrote: "Back to working 24/7 and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms."
His involvement in the US Federal Government has raised numerous questions about potential conflicts of interest, given significant contracts between his companies and the administration, as well as possible regulations affecting his business sectors.
