Elon Musk has gone from 'First Buddy' to first out the door, as US President Donald Trump's social media appears to suggest that the richest man in the world is 'finished' in the world of politics.
President Trump and Elon Musk have been near inseparable since the latter hopped onto the election trail in October last year, and despite not actually being an official government employee, Musk has remained a key figure within the current administration.
As head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk was in charge of enacting mass spending cuts across all facets of government, and the limits of his power only became apparent a few months into Trump's presidency - notably after a few high profile mistakes.
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However, following Musk's announcement that he will be leaving DOGE at the end of the month, equally due to his status as a special government employee and his growing unpopularity, many have noticed that it's almost as if the billionaire doesn't exist in the political world anymore.
As reported by the Independent, President Trump's social media activity has been notably lacking any mentions of Musk in recent weeks, which marks a significant shift compared to the majority of his second term so far.
Musk almost became Trump's biggest selling point, and there was constant reference to the 'successes' that both he and DOGE were able to achieve, yet neither party appear to be mentioning each other much any more.
Analysis from Politico indicated that the president would post about Musk on social media platform Truth Social around four times a week on average, yet there hasn't been a single mention of the billionaire since the start of April - which is nearing two months now.
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It doesn't appear to be coincidence that Musk's failure to secure the Wisconsin Supreme Court vote - considered by many Republicans as his biggest failure - came at the end of March, and that seems like a major turning point for Musk's position in politics.
"He's finished, done, gone. He polls terribly. People hate him," revealed an anonymous GOP operative to Politico following the Wisconsin incident, adding that "he'd go to Wisconsin thinking he can buy people's votes, wear the cheese hat, act like a 9-year-old [...] It doesn't work. It's offensive to people."
There has also only been a single mention of Musk in Trump's regular fundraising emails, which is a stark downturn from nearly daily references to the richest man in the world.
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Musk's departure from politics doesn't just seem to be motivated by Trump's own desires though, as the parallel misfortune of Musk's electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla also made for a great excuse to jump ship.
Industry analysts argued that Tesla was in a 'code red situation', suggesting that the company's future could be in jeopardy if its CEO didn't step away from DOGE and return his attention to the dwindling sales and stock market declines.
There was even talk of replacing Musk as Tesla CEO, and although that now seems incredibly unlikely, it would have left the tech mogul in a tricky place stranded from both his government and business positions in such a short period of time.