Featured Image Credit: The Economist / YouTube
Being the world's richest man doesn't mean you're immune from making mistakes, with Elon Musk opening up about his time heading up the Department of Government Efficiency.
It all started so rosy for the tech billionaire, as President Donald Trump's second term saw him buddy up with Elon Musk in a big way. While the POTUS' first term might be remembered for his plans to build a wall across the Mexican border, his second will surely be iconized for his Golden Dome of defense, war with the rest of the world via his trade tariffs, and the actual war in Iran.
Alongside launching his own meme coin and having an airport named after him, one of the wildest turns was launching the Department of Government Efficiency.
Mr. Musk lauded it over DOGE for exactly 134 days, leading the new department from January 20, 2025, until he resigned in late May 2025.
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DOGE and Musk caused plenty of controversy during his short time as a 'special government employee', namely as whole government departments were disbanded and he fell short of DOGE’s goal to trim the fat and save $2 trillion from the federal budget.
Of course, Musk's last days there were remembered for his black eye and explosive claims on X where he accused President Trump of being in the Epstein files. Ultimately, we know the president was mentioned numerous times.
Speaking to The Economist, Musk has admitted he made some mistakes while getting comfy at the White House. Discussing his short stint in politics, the tech mogul admitted: "I got carried away, frankly.
This comes after he walked back some of what he said online, saying he went 'too far' with his Trump posts.
Musk's interview with The Economist was a short but sweet breakdown of his time working for the government, suggesting that he won't be returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW anytime soon. On his way out the door, Musk teased that he would create his own America Party in opposition to both the Democrats and Republicans.
The Constitution suggests Musk wouldn't be able to run for president anyway, but that might not matter, as others think he could soon be suiting up to run as President of Mars.
Elsewhere, it somewhat feels like history is repeating itself, as when Musk worked with DOGE, we saw his impressive wealth take a dent due to backlash and threats of boycotting Tesla.
This time around, his controversial SpaceX IPO is at the core of his money worries.
Despite a record-breaking launch, SpaceX's short time on the stock market has seen shares dip from its $135 debut to a low of $110.85.
Musk has been hit hard in the pocket, and while he was recently celebrating being the world's first trillionaire, his wealth now sits at just $725.1 billion.
That's still neatly three times as much as Google's Larry Page, in second place with $263.2 billion, so let's not feel too sorry for him.
Even though Musk admits he got 'carried away' at the White House, The Economist notes he has no plans to give up the 'geopolitical bully pulpit'. As well as calling out the media's framing of Europe’s far-right as “false, misleading and nonsense," he went on to address allegations he's anti-Muslim as he concluded: "I’m against rape and murder. I’m against the imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we’ve come to accept in the West, and it’s a crying shame that traditional media, like you, don’t recognise this."
