Elon Musk has explained why he was ‘disappointed’ in President Donald Trump just hours before his departure from government.
The billionaire revealed this week that he is stepping away from his role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk found himself at the center of government after supporting Trump during his presidential election campaign last year.
During the campaign, the Tesla boss donated a whopping $288 million and was later appointed to the unelected role following Trump’s inauguration.
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While not technically a government department, DOGE is purported to be an outside advisor to the president on federal spending.
And Musk has spent the last few months hacking away at the federal budget, with most of the savings being gained by canceling contracts and triggering mass layoffs.
However, yesterday (May 28) he announced that he is leaving his post in government, taking to X, formerly Twitter, to write: “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.”
Just hours prior to this surprising announcement, Musk revealed that he wasn’t too happy about the president’s new budget plan.
Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, Musk said: “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.”
Titled the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’, the new budget is promising tax cuts and further military spending, while cutting some federal health and energy programs.
Musk went on to say: “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both.”
Speaking last month about Musk taking a step back from his, Vice President JD Vance said: “DOGE has got a lot of work to do, and yeah, that work is going to continue after Elon leaves, but fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an adviser of both me and the president.
“The work of DOGE is not even close to done. He’s done a lot of good things.”
However, Musk went on to tell the Washington Post earlier this week that DOGE has become a scapegoat, saying: “DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything. So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”