Welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
I'm thrilled to share some exciting news with you over the
next two weeks. We're evolving.
We'll be broadening our focus to cover all the tech Titans
shaping our world. And with that, our show will
become Stage 0. You'll still get the latest
insights on Elon Musk, plus so much more, so stay tuned for our
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years even bigger together. There's a link in the show notes
just for you. Elon Musk appears ready to walk
away from his position in the federal government, according to
a report from the Washington Post.
And the reason he's giving is personal.
He's tired of what he sees as sustained, politically motivated
attacks from the left. His planned exit would bring an
end to a controversial and short lived chapter in government
service where the billionaire entrepreneur tried to apply
Silicon Valley style disruption to the bureaucracy of
Washington. Now, Musk currently leads DOGE,
a role he took on under special government employee status, and
that designation is set to expire at the end of next month
and sources familiar with his plans say he doesn't intend to
renew it. Musk reportedly believes that
his departure won't slow down the work of DOGE, since key
staff members have already positioned themselves across a
number of federal agencies and continue to push forward the
policies he introduced. But this potential exit comes
amid clear signs that his influence in government is
diminishing. Recently, the New York Times
reported that tensions flared with the administration after
Treasury Secretary Scott Bassett objected to Musk's appointment
of an acting IRS commissioner. Bassett accused Musk of
bypassing him to install his preferred candidate, who was
later removed in. This clash has been widely
interpreted as a signal that Musk is losing support inside
the federal government. Now, other government officials
have voiced similar frustrations and concerns.
Musk's cost cutting efforts, often implemented without
collaboration, have created confusion and at times,
resentment. One of his more controversial
moves was a directive issued in February that required all
federal employees under Doge's reach to submit a weekly e-mail
listing 5 completed tasks. Now, Musk said failure to comply
would be treated as a resignation.
He does this with all of his companies.
If he comes into the company, if he buys you, he usually sends
out an e-mail that asks you what you've done over the past week
and if you don't reply, just gets rid of you.
Now, that order was quickly challenged.
Just two days later, the Office of Personnel Management issued
guidance making it clear that these emails were optional, not
mandatory. They stated that employees
couldn't be forced out for not participating, and internal
emails revealed that the office didn't plan to analyze or use
the data being collected anyway. And since then, enforcement of
the policy has become inconsistent.
Some agencies dropped their requirement entirely.
Others kept it but made no effort to track or enforce
participation. Employees in some departments
reportedly began treating the exercise as a joke, copying the
same list each week or submitting sarcastic responses
to meet the letter of the rule without honoring its intent.
Now outside Washington, pressure is growing for Musk to return
his full attention to Tesla, where analysts say his
leadership is urgently needed. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush
Sacred Securities, has described Tesla as being in a code red
state, and he blamed Musk's government involvement as a key
distraction. In a note to investors, he urged
Musk to step back from DOGE immediately and resume full time
leadership at Tesla. Tesla is Musk and Musk is Tesla
and anyone that thinks the brand damage Musk is inflicted is not
a real thing. Spend some time speaking to car
buyers in the US, Europe and Asia.
You will think differently about those discussions now.
I was also warned that Tesla's political associations could
result in a 15 to 20% long term drop in consumer demand.
You describe Tesla as having become a political symbol
closely tied to the Trump administration and the DOGE
program, which he argues is turning off potential buyers in
key markets worldwide. Now for civil servants, Musk's
short tenure has been jarring. While he did push for some
modernization efforts and cost reforms, the abrupt style in
which policies were introduced and then rolled back left many
employees confused and concerned.
Several government workers described the workplace, where
expectations change frequently and where directives from Musk
clashed with federal norms and federal procedures.
Even those who supported Elon Musk's gold acknowledge that his
tactics often did more harm than good.
The demand for weekly task emails, for instance, may have
been intended to boost accountability but instead
create a distrust and reset min among staff.
Many employees felt the rule wasn't about transparency but
about control, and when it was overturned, it further weakened
confidence in his leadership. Now the decision for Elon to
move on also matters for government oversight and public
trust. And influential figures like
Musk take on powerful roles without clear lines of
accountability or a clear plan that raises concerns about
transparency and proper governance.
His potential departure shows that it's difficult importing
private sector CE, OS and billionaire bad boys like Elon
to the public sector. The strategies, they cause
disruption, they cause harm. And right now, neither Musk nor
the White House have made an official statement regarding his
future with Doge, though, I think Elon is running scared.
He sees Tesla going down and he realizes that it's because of
him and what he's done. He's blaming it on the left.
People are attacking him not because of who he is, but
because the actions that he's taken with Doge and other
things. So he has to take accountability
and stop blaming other people. And that's what I think is
happening with Tesla. I think that's how people feel
about Tesla. So right now, they think he's a
bad guy. So they're not going to buy his
cars. There's no way.
There's no way they're going to buy a Tesla because Elon Musk is
a bad guy. Very simple.
If you have 3040 thousand $50,000 to spend on a car and
you don't like the person that runs the car company, you're not
going to buy that car. Just go someplace else.
There's cars that are similar. They don't have all the bells
and whistles of Tesla. They're good.
Buy a Rivian. Rivians are great.
You can buy a Subaru, not as good, but it's a cool car.
You can buy a Hyundai if you want to.
It's up to you. It's up to your political
beliefs and if you like the company's owners and CEOs.
So what's clear right now is that Musk's time in government
has been as unconventional as his corporate career.
His likely exit will end a chapter defined by his bold
moves in the government. And it had unpredictable
consequences. And he's expected to leave his
federal post at Doge next month and not re sign with the
government. His departure follows internal
conflicts, his failed policies, and outside pressure from
investors and friends and family to return to Tesla, SpaceX,
Neurolink, all of his companies full time.
Get out of the government. That's what they want.
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