Elon Musk says he's done with Washington.
But if the world's richest man steps back from politics
entirely, is that a sign that the alliance between tech, power
and federal influence is starting to fall apart?
A must confirm this week that he's officially ending his role
in government, closing the chapter on his controversial
experiment to bring Silicon Valley style efficiency to
federal bureaucracy. In a post on X, he thanked
Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending, but
made it clear that his focus is shifting back to his company's
Tesla, SpaceX and XAI. The tone is changed sharply from
just months ago, when Musk called himself Trump's first
buddy is what's considered one of the administration's most
influential figures. But now, after months of
internal clashes, unmet promises and missed opportunities, Musk
is clearly disillusioned. In a recent interview, he said
he probably spent too much time on politics.
What pushed him over the edge? For one, the massive domestic
policy bill that Trump's team passed last week.
Musk told CBS News he was disappointed with it.
He argued the bill increases the federal deficit and undermines
the work of his own government team called DOGE, and it was
trying to do the best at cutting costs.
Now, Trump chose not to respond directly.
He defended the bill's passage and praised Republicans for
getting it through. He never mentioned Elon Musk,
but White House policy chief Stephen Miller took a shot on
social media without naming him, insisting the bill does reduce
the deficit and that Musk's team had nothing to do with the
legislation. Now, Musk's growing frustration
with Washington goes beyond just that bill.
He also objected to a high profile deal with the UAE to
build an AI data center in Abu Dhabi.
That deal went to Open AI, an organization Musk Co founded but
has since distanced himself from after falling out with CEO Sam
Altman. And according to White House
sources, Musk lobbied to get his own company, XAI, included in
that deal, but he failed. I still travelled with Trump to
the region. But when it came time for a
formal dinner in Qatar, Musk waited in line like everyone
else. That public image standing on
the sidelines stood in sharp contrast to his earlier
dominance. Just a few months back, Musk had
stormed the stage at C PAC with a chainsaw and bragged about how
easy it was to save billions of dollars from federal budgets.
Behind the scenes, though, DOGE had problems.
The team inflated its saving numbers.
At times, they posted false claims about cancelled
contracts, then deleted them. Musk admitted in an interview
this week that he underestimated how hard it would be to cut
government spending. He said the system was harder to
navigate than the expected and blame bureaucracy and a lack of
political will. Now.
One major turning point came when Trump learned that Musk was
scheduled to receive a Pentagon briefing on China.
After weeks of defending Musk against accusations of conflict
of interest, Trump reportedly lost patience.
That meeting never happened, and Musk's access to Trump began to
narrow. He also lost big financially.
Musk spent about $25 million backing a candidate in Wisconsin
who lost the race. He's grown critical of Trump's
tariffs, and despite promising Trump team he donate $100
million ahead of the 2026 midterms, that money still
hasn't arrived. Now, meanwhile, several of
Musk's top deputies are quietly exiting their government roles.
Antonio Gracias, who led the doge efforts at the Social
Security Administration, has moved to investigating a legal
voting. Steve Davis, another Musk
loyalist, is also stepping down. The shape up reflects A broader
pullback now. Musk says he's now spending all
his time back at work. He posted on X that he's focused
on test the SpaceX and XAI. Over the weekend he attended a
SpaceX test launch #9 where there was a failure of the
booster. It's not really a failure.
They were testing it to failure and also the ship blew up mid
flight and the rocket exploded halfway through.
Musk called it a big improvement and skipped the planned talk on
making life multiplanetary that night, which was supposed to
happen about 9:00 but he postponed it and he released a
video that wasn't live and was prerecorded.
So what's next for Elon Musk? He's not staying silent.
He still has a megaphone through X, but for now he's turning away
from government reform and back to building rockets and AI
systems. The man who once had Trump's ear
now seems more interested in Mars than Capitol Hill.
Elon has officially left Washington frustrated with
bureaucracy, disillusioned by policy and focus once again, and
getting humanity to Mars.