Topline
Elon Musk departs the White House Friday after a brief but wildly controversial run marked by contradictory reports of his success leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Elon Musk waves as he arrives for a state dinner at the Lusail Palace on May 14, 2025, in Doha, ... More
Musk and Trump will hold a final joint press conference from the Oval Office Friday at 1:30 p.m., Trump announced on Truth Social, calling Musk “terrific” and adding, “this will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way.”
Musk departs the White House after publicly criticizing the price tag of Trump’s signature policy bill earlier this week, and announcing earlier this month he would scale back his political spending.
Trump tapped Musk, the richest person in the world, to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year after Musk spent more than $250 million to help elect him.
As a special government employee, Musk was not paid and his service was limited to 130 days.
Musk admittedly fell far short of his goal to cut $1 trillion in government spending, but made drastic reductions that could have a lasting effect, including eliminating some agencies entirely and laying off tens of thousands of federal workers, though many of those decisions remain under challenge in the courts.
Eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development: The Trump administration has terminated more than 80% of grants and contracts, having a drastic and in some cases, devastating, impact on global health funding. The cuts may have resulted in about 300,000 deaths, according to an estimate by Brooke Nichols, an associate professor of global health at Boston University. The majority—more than 200,000—are child deaths. Many stem from malnutrition and malaria. The White House has denied any deaths from the USAID cuts—Secretary of State Marco Rubio told House lawmakers earlier this month “no one has died” because of the cuts.
Courts have overturned tens of thousands of the firings spearheaded by Musk, among multiple legal actions against his work at DOGE. A judge this week refused to dismiss a lawsuit against 14 states that sued Musk and DOGE, alleging illegal access of government data. More than 260,000 federal workers have been fired, taken buyouts or retired since Trump took office, a tally that far exceeds the record 195,000 cut during former President Dwight Eisenhower’s first year, according to Reuters. The Supreme Court last month paused an order by a San Francisco judge requiring the federal government to reinstate more than 16,000 probationary workers—or those who were newly hired—fired by six agencies. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg called DOGE’s work “a failure” in a piece published Friday that notes “its firings, re-hirings, use of paid administrative leave and all the associated lack of productivity” could cost more than $135 billion this year, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Musk said during Trump’s campaign he believed he could find $2 trillion in federal government savings, then made a goal of $1 trillion in cuts when he was appointed to lead DOGE before saying last month he anticipated $150 billion in savings. DOGE’s website has featured numerous errors, including triple counting savings from a contract, claiming it cancelled grants that were terminated years ago and using “billions” when it meant “millions,” according to The New York Times, which also reported DOGE changed its public reporting methods in an apparent attempt to make errors harder to find.
Musk raised eyebrows when he used a salute that closely resembled the one used in Nazi Germany at a Trump inauguration event in January. Twice while on stage Musk projected his arm diagonally upward from his chest with an open, downward facing palm. Some observers said it was a “Roman salute,” a take reshared by Musk, who never outright denied the accusations likening him to Hilter, and the Anti-Defamation League determined it was “not a Nazi salute.”
We estimate Musk is worth $428.6 billion.
-14. That’s Musk’s net favorability rating, a 20-point decline since January last year, according to Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin.
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