“The large slug of work necessary to get the Doge team in place and working in the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done”, Musk told investors in his beleaguered electric car company Tesla. He said that beginning in May, his “time allocation to Doge will stop significantly”, and projected that he would spend “1-2 days per week as long as the President wants me…just to make sure the waste and fraud that we stopped does not come roaring back”.
Musk’s political gamble, bankrolling Trump in the latter stages of the 2024 presidential election campaign and then securing a position at the helm of Doge that placed him at the epicentre of power in Washington, now appears to have backfired massively. Latest polls show that he has become one of Trump’s biggest political liabilities, with one survey this month showing 60 per cent of the public had an unfavourable view of Musk personally, and 58 per cent of voters disapproving of the work conducted by Doge.
Trump and Musk sit in a Tesla vehicle on the South Portico of the White House in March (Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)Musk’s service as a “special government employee” allows him to spend only 130 days in any year at the President’s side. With Trump nearing his 100th day in office, it is not clear how Musk has been calculating the number of days he has worked on the government’s behalf, nor whether he has sufficient time available to continue providing his services for “1-2 days per week” until New Year’s Eve.
Across the country, protesters have vandalised Tesla showrooms. The FBI has labelled it domestic terrorism (Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)Musk’s efforts to shore up sales through deep discounts on new car purchases, zero per cent loans and other incentives have largely failed, as American motorists recoil from his political positions and dub his vehicles “Swastikars”. Trump’s personal purchase of a Tesla during an event last month that turned the White House grounds into a car showroom did nothing to turn the company’s fortunes around.
square ELON MUSK Elon Musk to reduce role in Trump administration
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But other elements of Musk’s business empire have demonstrably benefited from his time in government. In eviscerating government agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he was able to head off scores of customer complaints about his products. Elsewhere, his efforts to cut government “waste and fraud” saw several regulators of his own industries either placed on administrative leave or fired.
Space X, Musk’s rocket business, continues to enjoy $22 billion in federal government contracts, and the news agency Reuters reported that the company was expected to play a significant role in the creation of Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defence shield to protect the United States from airborne incoming attack.
Turning Tesla’s financial woes around now appears to be on Musk’s front burner, and in stepping back from his government service he is tacitly acknowledging the extent to which his efforts at public service have created spectacular corporate blowback for him. But despite being loathed by many other members of Trump’s inner circle, he remains the richest man in the world, with the financial capacity to influence American politics and elections for years to come.
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