The bromance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump seems to be over, as Musk said he wouldn’t be likely to donate more money to political causes in the future. Musk spent over $277 million to support Trump in the last election. One could presume that Musk thought his work was done and that once he’d helped get Trump elected, that’s all that he wanted. But Musk did more than help Trump get elected; he was involved in the administration with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and that hasn’t gone as predicted.

Advertisement

Musk seemed to admit as such when he posted on X, which used to be Twitter before Musk’s messy takeover in 2022, in response to someone who said that DOGE had effectively helped tackle wasteful government spending, but the GOP led Congress wouldn’t codify it. Musk responded simply, “did my best.”

Trump seemed to be using Musk to help him fulfill his campaign promises of breaking down and reshaping the federal government. And for a while, it seemed like it was working. In February 2025, Musk made the cover of Time Magazine, and in a move which must have irritated Trump, he was pictured as sitting at the Oval Office desk. The cover story was about DOGE and Musk’s government work, which included dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and getting “access to the U.S. federal payment system,” via Time. He also made cuts to FEMA and the IRS.

Advertisement

Elon Musk’s DOGE actions have faced backlash. Tesla, another of Musk’s companies, saw earnings fall dramatically across the world after his aggressive slash and burn approach to the federal government. When Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ VP running mate, joked about Tesla’s stock price plummeting, Musk took offense, despite having previously mocked Walz and others on social media.

Advertisement

Like Musk, Trump isn’t one to shy away from insults about his opponents, but as approval of Musk and DOGE plummeted, Trump may have started to see Musk as a liability. On the flip side, Musk may have gotten tired of trying to help Trump keep his campaign promises and getting burned for it. As of late April 2025, Musk has said that he’d be spending more time at Tesla. As a special government employee, Musk’s time with the government was limited to about four months. So he may have always planned to step back, but perhaps under different circumstances.

Originally Musk had said he would cut $2 trillion from the budget with DOGE. That number got halved a few months into Trump’s presidency. The actual number is somewhere around $160 billion, but some have estimated that the cuts could actually cost $135 billion with legal defense costs and lowered productivity. The recommended DOGE cuts have not yet been voted on by the Republican-led Congress.

Advertisement