Elon Musk’s Washington Exit Comes with a Bang: DOGE Cuts, Political Friction, and a Return to Work

Elon Musk may be stepping away from Washington, D.C., but he isn’t going quietly.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO confirmed on Wednesday night via his social media platform X that his time serving as a special government employee is officially ending. Musk had been working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump administration initiative aimed at cutting wasteful federal spending.

“I would like to thank President [Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk posted, signaling the close of a controversial chapter in his recent political engagements.

Musk Pushes Back Against Trump’s New Spending Bill

Musk’s exit comes amid fresh criticism of former President Donald Trump’s proposed “big, beautiful bill,” a sweeping package that could add more than $3 trillion to the national deficit if passed. In an interview with CBS set to air in full this weekend, Musk said the bill “undermines” the progress DOGE has made in trying to rein in government costs.

“The bill increases the budget deficit and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said.

White House adviser Stephen Miller quickly countered Musk’s claims on X, arguing that the bill will reduce the deficit and that specific DOGE cuts would be formalized later in follow-up legislation. But Musk’s discontent with Washington’s spending habits appears to have reached a tipping point.

From Political Power Broker to Business Re-Focus

Though his tenure with DOGE yielded limited tangible savings — and even coincided with a slight uptick in overall government spending, according to Brookings Institution data — Musk’s political footprint has grown significantly over the past year. But now, he says he’s pulling back.

Speaking to Bloomberg last week, Musk admitted he planned to step away from political funding and advocacy, saying, “I think I’ve done enough.” He also told Ars Technica that he had “probably spent too much time on politics.”

His rivalry with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also spilled into Washington recently. Musk reportedly pushed for his company, xAI, to be included in a major AI data center deal announced in Abu Dhabi — a deal that ultimately moved forward without him.

“Back to 24/7 Work Mode”

With politics taking a back seat, Musk is returning to the companies that made him a household name. On Tuesday, he posted: “Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” citing the need to focus on major projects at Tesla, X, and xAI.

Among those projects is Tesla’s robotaxi initiative in Austin, Texas, with trial runs expected to begin at the end of July. Tesla’s much-anticipated Cybercab, a fully autonomous vehicle, is still on track for a 2026 debut. Musk is also promising to unveil Tesla’s lower-cost electric vehicles later this year — a move expected to reshape the EV market.

SpaceX is also preparing for another Starship launch, as the company continues its long-term Mars colonization vision. And xAI is rumored to be rolling out new tools this summer to compete directly with ChatGPT and Gemini.

“DOGE Is Becoming the Whipping Boy”

Reflecting on his rocky D.C. stint, Musk voiced frustration in an interview with the Washington Post, saying: “DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything.”

Despite initial promises to cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, many of DOGE’s proposed reductions have stalled. Musk’s efforts to target smaller agencies like USAID drew criticism from both Democrats and some Republicans who saw the cuts as politically motivated and ineffective.

Still, Musk seems hopeful about DOGE’s legacy. “Its mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” he wrote on X.

As for his parting shot on Trump’s latest bill: “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk quipped during the CBS interview, “but I don’t know if it can be both.”

What’s Next?

Musk’s departure from Washington doesn’t mean he’s vanishing from the spotlight. With Tesla’s critical product launches ahead, an ongoing arms race in AI, and SpaceX pushing toward Mars, his attention is simply shifting — back to the fast-paced world of innovation, factories, and rocket launches.

But if history is any indication, the world’s richest man won’t be out of politics for long.