Elon Musk leaves the White House but insists DOGE will continue and ‘become a way of life’

Elon Musk has called it quits on his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) role with the Trump administration, a controversial position which saw foreign aid cut, thousands of federal jobs axed and boycotts of his businesses in response.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX boss wrote on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

After becoming a key donor to the Trump campaign during the run up to the 2024 Presidential Election – Musk is believed to have donated an estimated $250 million (close to £187 million) – Trump appointed Musk head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The department sought to “maximise governmental efficiency and productivity” and was at the heart of controversial moves to cut federal funding and foreign aid, including shutting down US foreign aid agency USAID, an award to help LGBTQ+ refugees and the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.

Musk’s unelected involvement in US politics has been deeply divisive, with critics describing the power he was afforded by Trump as a “coup” and holding rallies in protest; causing damage to Tesla vehicles and hanging unflattering signs outside factories that make the vehicles.

Since January, the boycotts have reportedly cost Musk $148 billion (£111 billion) of his net worth whilst Tesla suffered a 20 per cent decrease in the number of cars sold during the first three months of the year, and a 70 per cent fall in profits.

At the end of April, Musk announced he would take a step back from DOGE following Tesla’s earnings crash, saying from May his “time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly”.

The White House began “offboarding” Musk on Wednesday (28 May), an official told Reuters.

Musk’s departure as a temporary, “special government employee” – who are normally limited to work 130 days per year, a role that was set to expire for Musk on Friday (30 May) – comes after the South African tech billionaire told a Qatar Economic Forum he was done with political spending, suggesting the “bromance” between him and Trump may be on rocky terrain.

“I’m going to do a lot less [spending] in the future, I think I’ve done enough. Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason,” Musk told the event hosted by Bloomberg.

Musk went on to tell the conference he “did what needed to be done” in terms of his involvement in politics, adding: “I’m not someone who has ever committed violence and yet massive violence was committed against my companies, massive violence was threatened against me.”

This week, prior to announcing his departure, Elon Musk also publicly criticised Trump’s budget legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying it it “undermines the work” of DOGE.

“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised,” Musk told the Washington Post on Tuesday (27 May). “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”

Musk has previously denied engaging in a “takeover” of the government, saying: “The public voted for major government reform… and they’re going to get what they voted for. That’s what democracy is all about.

“We have this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government: the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways, more power than any elected representative.”