‘I Would Like To Thank President Trump’: Musk Says Farewell To DOGE

On Wednesday night, Elon Musk made it clear that the reason he was leaving his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project was due to a rule limiting special government employees to 130 days of service rather than any rumored feud with President Donald Trump.

This week, Musk publicly criticized the tax and spending package championed by Trump, saying, “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”

Musk’s departure from government work coincides with his recent remarks indicating he would focus more on his business ventures.

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

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

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025

Musk’s DOGE claims it has saved American taxpayers $175 billion through a “combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”

Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships

Earlier this week, in an interview published in Ars Technica, Musk stated, “I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics, it’s less than people would think, because the media is going to over-represent any political stuff, because political bones of contention get a lot of traction in the media. It’s not like I left the companies. 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.”

Musk had a significant impact on the 2024 election. After buying Twitter, he opened it far more to Right-wing views. As the SAIS Review of International Affairs noted, “ According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, over half of U.S. adults (54%) consume news from social media … X stood out for having the most balanced political affiliation distribution, with 48% of its users leaning Republican and 47% Democratic. Moreover, when it comes to politics X stands out with 59% of X users[10] following politics or political issues on the platform.”

Additionally, Musk was the largest individual donor to the Trump campaign, contributing more than $250 million through a political action committee and endorsing Trump after an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.