The world’s richest man has just stepped down from his position leading a federal government task-force responsible for gutting large portions of the federal government.
In a send-off press conference held in the Oval Office on Friday, May 30, Elon Musk received glowing praise from Trump himself. Trump handed Musk an ostentatious golden key to the president’s office after praising the billionaire as “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” who has “worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”
This “reform program” has been Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has spearheaded sweeping attacks against government agencies leading to the exodus of over 280,000 workers via layoffs, buyouts, or other planned reductions, according to data analyzed by The New York Times. These are reductions that could affect at least 12% of the federal workforce.
Especially hard-hit targets have been agencies such as the US Agency for Global Media, which supervises outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Martí, as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), both of which have been almost completely gutted. Also hard hit has been the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after some of Musk’s own business ventures came under CFPB scrutiny, and the Department of Education, which Trump has vowed to dismantle entirely.
The days of DOGE are not over, even with Musk stepping down from its leadership as a “special government employee.” According to Trump himself, the billionaire is “really not leaving,” and will continue to be “back and forth” from the White House. DOGE’s operations will continue, and Musk expressed confidence that his stated goal of cutting one trillion dollars from the federal budget would succeed through the department’s efforts. At the start of Trump’s second term, Musk had promised to slash one trillion dollars from next year’s budget, but has fallen far short of this goal.
Musk is stepping down amid profound disagreements and tensions with key Trump administration policies. In his first major public disagreement with the President, Musk voiced that his is “disappointed” with Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the Republican Party’s domestic policy bill that is heavily backed by Trump – claiming the act “increases the budget deficit” and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” in an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning.” Musk has also expressed some disagreement with Trump’s sweeping tariff policies.
Behind the scenes, tensions appear to be even worse than they appear on the surface, with reports indicating clashes between Musk and top Trump officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – who Musk allegedly “got physical” with according to ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
Musk’s appearance in the Oval Office on Friday – standing far to the side while Trump opened with praise of Bessent and other officials leading the charge on tariffs, while sporting a Black eye he claims came from his 5-year-old son – has been scrutinized as a fall from grace compared to Musk’s stardom in the first days of Trump 2.0.
Yet the austerity agenda continues, with Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, claiming that the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” “saves more than 1.6 TRILLION in mandatory spending, including the largest-ever welfare reform.” In a White House statement, Miller addresses what he dubs “claims the bill increases the deficit,” stating that the bill’s spending in fact reduces the current deficit.
