Elon Musk’s DOGE grip on government unraveled when Tesla stock fell
The Internal Revenue Service is under the purview of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had repeatedly resisted DOGE’s attempts to intervene at his agency. The Internal Revenue Service is under Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s purview. He had reacted repeatedly to DOGE’s efforts to interfere with his agency. Bessent was victorious, and Shapley’s tenure as acting IRS head ended after only three days. Musk unfollowed Bessent on X, his social media platform.
Asked about the clash, which was first reported by Axios, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to a statement she issued last week.
“Disagreements are a normal part of any healthy policy process,” the statement read. “And everyone knows that they work at President Trump’s pleasure.” Musk alienated Trump aides with unscripted remarks and abrupt edicts, forcing them to scramble to explain his decisions. He also alienated Trump aides with unscripted remarks and abrupt edicts, forcing political appointees to scramble to explain his decisions.
His group appeared to scale back its ambitions, with Musk saying that DOGE was on track to cut $150 billion from government spending this year — far below his original goal.
Musk’s popularity also waned with voters. According to polls, a majority of Americans have a negative view of Musk and believe he has too much influence in government. A liberal judge won. A liberal judge won.
With the electric-car company he runs, Tesla, battered by declining sales and falling share prices, Musk on Tuesday told investors that his “time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly” starting next month, though he added he will probably stay involved.
“I’ll have to continue doing it for probably the remainder of the president’s term just to make sure that the waste and fraud that we have stopped does not come roaring back,” he said. “So I think I’ll continue to spend, you know, a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so, and as long as it is useful.”
The White House and a spokeswoman for DOGE — which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency — did not respond to questions about the timing of Musk’s planned departure.
“He was a tremendous help, both in the campaign and in what he’s done with DOGE,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Musk was a great help, both during the campaign and with DOGE. We have to let him do it at some point. We expected to do it around this time.” While the billionaire, who put nearly $300 million toward seeing Trump and other Republicans elected last year, has retained support from the president, the White House has sought for weeks to put guardrails around Musk and his team’s activities.
“I like what DOGE stands for. One Trump appointee, who spoke anonymously to express his frustrations about Musk’s operation, said: “I don’t like the way they’ve done this.” The official said that DOGE was like overly aggressive chemotherapy. He cited a quote attributed to Musk regarding one of his deputy’s, and praised the team for fighting the federal bureaucracy, but also stated the unintended effects were harmful. The first indication that Musk was in trouble came early in March when Trump stated that Cabinet secretaries were responsible for cutting programs and staff, and not Musk. Until then, DOGE had embarked on an unprecedented sweep through government agencies with a seeming mandate from Trump to remold the federal workforce as it wished.
Musk’s team moved to dismantle targets such as USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, overseeing steep job cuts and canceling spending to which it objected. The pace and scope of those initial actions led to a wave of public scrutiny and triggered lawsuits that put Musk in the spotlight.
DOGE pledged to cut “wasteful” federal spending, but often carried out its edicts with little warning to agency officials and outside organizations. A sudden plan to cut billions in funding for biomedical research at universities led to lawsuits and opposition from GOP legislators. The courts blocked the move quickly. DOGE continues to slow-walk billions of dollars in federal payments, though, through efforts to take control of grants.
Senior political advisers around the Trump administration had complained — almost from the outset — about Musk’s unpredictable maneuvers. Musk clashed with Cabinet officials in an open meeting early in March. Trump’s post on Truth Social stated that “as Secretaries get to know and understand the people who work for the different Departments, they will be able to make very specific decisions about who will stay and who will leave.” “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.'”
From then on, it was clear that Musk would not spend Trump’s full term in Washington. The billionaire can only work for the Trump administration 130 days this year as a “special employee”. He would have to disclose financial conflicts and divest if he did not. Musk’s businesses were also affected by DOGE’s disruption. Musk’s company stock, which is a key component of his wealth, fell on the belief that DOGE’s unpopularity damaged the brand of the electric-vehicle manufacturer. The stock is down more than 30% since the start of the year. Deliveries fell 13 percent from last year, the biggest drop in recent memory. The share prices rose in the last few days as investors hoped that Musk would soon leave the White House. Musk began Tuesday’s earnings call by lambasting anti-Tesla protesters and repeating baseless claims that they are funded by outside groups, the “recipients of wasteful largesse.” Musk began Tuesday’s earnings call by lambasting anti-Tesla protesters and repeating baseless claims that they are funded by outside groups, the “recipients of wasteful largesse.”
As Tesla’s financial picture worsened this year, Musk started to sound a different tune about DOGE, saying last month that “most of the work” to find a planned $1 trillion in savings would be complete by the time his 130-day tenure concluded.
Stephen K. Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist during his first term and has consistently clamored for Musk’s departure, said there must be “very specific accountability” as to the fraud and waste that DOGE allegedly found before the billionaire leaves government.
“It’s imperative we find out what he found. “It’s imperative we find out what he found.” Bannon added that we can’t just leave the issue hanging. “We have to have a full accounting that makes sure any government data — classified or not — and any personal financial data, people’s tax returns, and their health records, have not gone to any entity not controlled by the Trump administration or the U.S. government.”
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
While his influence ebbed in the White House, Musk was pouring money and energy into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race he said “might decide the future of America and Western Civilization!”
But with DOGE forcing cuts back in Washington, Democrats in Wisconsin took advantage of Musk’s low approval ratings and used him as a villain to galvanize their base.
The conservative judge Musk backed, Brad Schimel, ultimately lost the race to his liberal challenger Susan Crawford.
The campaign gimmicks that had helped Musk energize Trump supporters did not seem as effective, and some professional Republicans began to see him as a political liability.
Initially, Musk had a “panache” that was unique for the Republican Party, said Christopher Nicholas, a GOP strategist in Pennsylvania. But now, he is a “lightning rod.”
Even some Musk backers have acknowledged that his freewheeling style can cause complications.
Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, said on an episode of the “All-In” podcast last month that he and Musk had a plan before taking the stage at a Trump campaign rally last October: Musk would announce a goal to slash the federal budget by $1 trillion.
Then they walked out in front of a raucous crowd — and Musk began to riff and wound up doubling the total.
“He says $2 trillion
,” Lutnick said on the podcast. “I’m sitting here going, and then I’m like, ‘Alright then.’ or something like that… what was I meant to say?”
By the middle of April, Musk had significantly tempered expectations for DOGE. Musk’s clash with Bessent on the West Wing last week was only greeted with limited shock by the White House. Even the boundary-breaking Trump Administration found it difficult to accept senior officials shouting at each other near the president. Musk’s behavior is not a surprise to many officials.
