Elon Musk Steps Down from DOGE Role, Citing Political Fatigue and “Uphill Battle

Elon Musk has officially confirmed he is stepping down as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the federal cost-cutting task force he led under President Donald Trump. Musk announced his departure in a May 29 post on X (formerly Twitter), thanking Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending” but acknowledging the role turned out to be much harder than anticipated.

By law, Musk’s role as a Special Government Employee was limited to 130 days, with his term ending May 30. A White House official told Reuters his “off-boarding will begin tonight.”

An Ambitious Mission Cut Short

Musk’s DOGE team claimed to have saved taxpayers $175 billion since Trump returned to the White House on January 20 — although many media outlets have challenged the accuracy of those figures, calling them overstated or error-ridden.

Initially, Musk aimed to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget but later revised his goal down to $150 billion. According to Reuters, DOGE has cut nearly 12% of the 2.3 million federal workforce through layoffs, buyouts, and early retirement offers — totaling about 260,000 jobs.

In interviews with The Washington Post and CBS, Musk described the challenge as worse than expected, calling it “an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C.” He also criticized a recently passed multi-trillion-dollar tax break package by House Republicans, warning it would deepen the budget deficit and undermine DOGE’s cost-cutting mission.

Legal Challenges Mount

Musk’s tenure comes under a cloud of legal scrutiny. A federal judge recently allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Musk and DOGE, filed by 14 states accusing them of illegally overstepping constitutional limits by accessing government systems, firing federal employees, and canceling contracts at federal agencies.

Despite this, Musk remains defiant, posting on X that DOGE’s mission will “only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

Source: Elon Musk

Balancing Politics and Tesla

In a May 28 interview with Ars Technica, Musk admitted he had spent “a bit too much time on politics,” a diversion some critics argue has hurt his flagship company, Tesla.

“It’s not like I left the companies,” Musk explained. “It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I’ve reduced that significantly in recent weeks.”

Investors reacted positively when Musk announced in Tesla’s Q1 report that his time spent on DOGE would drop significantly, with Tesla (TSLA) shares jumping over 5% in after-hours trading — even though the company had just reported an 80% plunge in net income.

As of March 31, Tesla still holds 11,509 Bitcoin, valued at about $1.24 billion at current prices (~$108,442 per BTC).

Tesla’s Broader Challenges

Tesla’s stock remains down 5.9% year-to-date, a decline reflecting both Musk’s political distractions and weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales. However, the dip aligns with broader trends across Big Tech, with Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN), and Google (GOOG) also showing red in 2025.

As Musk steps away from the political stage, many eyes are watching to see if his renewed focus on Tesla and tech ventures will help restore momentum — or whether the fallout from his time in Washington will linger longer than expected.