While Elon Musk sought to reassure Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that he would soon expand his work with the federal government, his strain was heard in his voice.
The richest man in the world said that he will continue to say that the Trump administration should reduce the definitions it imposed on countries around the world. But he confessed with a defeated voice that if President Trump “will listen to my advice left for him.”
It was not completely suffering, but Mr. Musk was two months ago, when the billionaire was at the height of his strength, Wave A chain on the stage at a supportive conference of Trump to photograph his role as a government commander.
At that time, Mr. Musk was a power in Washington, Leadership of radical change Through the government. To the president, he was a genius; For Democrats, Mr. Trump was “Chairing Chairman”; To many cabinet secretaries, it was to threaten; And for the laws of the Republican Party, the source of the injured calls was from the components Those whose services and jobs were threatened due to the discounts from the Ministry of Governmental efficiency.
While Mr. Musk moves to spend less time in Washington, it is unclear whether his bold plan to reform the federal bureaucracy will get permanent authority. The endeavor has already left a tremendous imprint on the government, and Mr. Musk told partners that he believed that he had put the structure to make Doug successful. But he is still close to cutting a trillion dollars he pledged in waste, fraud and abuse.
Mr. Trump has restricted some of Mr. Musk’s influence over the past two months, and the Cabinet trustees have told that they were responsible for their agencies. But the president asked the trustees to work with Mr. Musk and Douj to reduce spending. At the same time, Mr. Musk has killer Publicly and publicly against the sharp definitions of the president that threatened to manufacture and profits of Tesla, his car company.
Mr. Musk told the friends that he felt frustrated by the meetings he faced with Mr. Trump’s commercial advisers, according to someone who briefed the talks that spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe special discussions. The billionaire tried to work behind the scenes to persuade Mr. Trump to abandon his trained protectionist position, according to two people aware of their conversations.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokeswoman for Mr. Musk refused to comment. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the billionaire “was tremendous help, whether in the campaign or what he did with Dog.”
“He was always at this time to reduce,” the president told reporters at the Oval Office.
Sean Maguir, one of my closest friends, Mr. Musk and a consultant to Doug officials, said he is confident that the endeavor will flourish without Mr. Musk’s full time. He compared Doge with the Falcon 9 – a preliminary payment of the missile energy even after separating its engines.
Mr. Maguire said: “At this stage, the missile is only a few hundred kilometers from the ground, but it survived its weight well and it can travel away to the solar system.” “Dog has fled the capital’s gravity well.”
Mr. Maguir, who was Participate in the interviews As for the Pentagon appointments during the presidential transition, he said he believed that “history will judge Doug very positively, beyond his appreciation today.”
Mr. Musk developed Duji’s allies in almost every federal government agency, in an effort to dismantle some of them, including the United States Agency for International Development and the Financial Consumer Protection Office.
The New York Times has identified More than 60 employees He has been appointed to work for Mr. Musk’s effort, although some have left the federal government since then. Many have worked with billionaire in the private sector, including at least 20 of those who have relationships with Mr. Musk companies. Double by Doug by Steve DavisThe best adviser to Mr. Musk and the port.
DOGE employees have exceeded the objections of professional civil service employees in the Social Security Management and the internal revenue service to closely accessed the immigrants. Inside the Social Security Database, Mr. Musk team put a system to narrate the neighborhood immigrants who claimed to be dead criminals, in an attempt to reduce them from financial services and to Forcing them to leave the country.
The New York Times found that Doug tried to enter more than 80 data systems across 10 federal agencies. Data groups include this personal information about federal workers, detailed financial data on federal purchases and spending Intimate personal details about the American public.
Some of the advisers of Mr. Trump have impatiently watched, as Mr. Musk made a risky political swing in the agencies on which tens of millions of Americans depend.
In the Social Security Administration, the rapid political changes led to the benefit of panic Huge field offices. And the policy of returning to the office and the demobilization of the workers for the test staff in the Old Warriors Affairs Department Obligatory Acting mental care program threatening Its ability to conduct medical research.
Mr. Musk came to the Trump administration, claiming that he would find savings in government costs so much that it seemed impossible to budget experts.
In February, the group published the “receipt wall” online, which separates savings from thousands of grants, contracts and canceled office contracts. But this site included confused claims.one billionWith “a million, double or three times the cancellation, and even obtaining the credit for canceling the programs I finish When George W. Bush was president.
Earlier this month, at a cabinet meeting, Mr. Musk said that it has so far reduced $ 150 billion in the federal budget next year – much less than a trillion dollars that he claimed would be extracted.
Dog raised sharp cuts to the federal workforce and the budgets of some agencies. But it is difficult to measure the exact amount that was saved, because Dog’s public claims were Filled With errors and guesses whose success has been enlarged.
Mr. Musk’s reduction in the government was a political cost, but he is still in good position with the president, according to people familiar with Mr. Trump’s opinions.
While some of the assistants of Mr. Trump are close and advisers have argued with Mr. Musk, the president still praises him almost every opportunity, and still invites him to hang out in his clubs and bring his children.
Mr. Trump told the advisers that Mr. Musk put everything at stake for him. He feels bad about what the leftist “madmen” who attack Tesla’s agent to protest against Mr. Musk in the Trump administration. Mr. Trump also respects the strength of the social media platform of Mr. Musk, X, even while the president maintains a commercial interest in the social fact, his own platform.
Individually, Mr. Trump has sometimes pointed to partners that it may have been time for Mr. Musk to move forward and spend more time with his companies. But the president is unlikely to pressure Mr. Musk to leave, or do anything that deliberately passes to him. He is still grateful to hundreds of millions of dollars spent by Mr. Musk for his election in 2024, and in recognition of an additional $ 100 million, Mr. Musk pledge To the political process of Mr. Trump, colleagues note.
Mr. Musk is now the financial cornerstone of the Republican Party, and will remain a tremendous influence as long as it wants to remain a participant in politics.
However, Mr. Trump realized the problems caused by Mr. Musk, such as a Plan it for knowledge In the Pentagon on sensitive national security matters related to China – even the president described it separately as conflicts of interests and a contract that was not informed in advance, according to persons familiar with what happened. When Mr. Trump learned of that possible session of news reports, this was the first time that people close to the president could remember an expression of his dissatisfaction with Mr. Musk.
Mr. Trump also admitted to the advisers that Mr. Musk had stumbled as a political force-the most prominent of which is his long-standing efforts to turn the Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin. Mr. Trump, a student of public opinion, was concerned with the status of billionaire in opinion polls, and the fees of any signs that Mr. Musk Deep lack of You may move.
But people close to Mr. Trump also said that Mr. Musk was useful as a “heat shield”, and they absorb the continuous attacks that could target the president.
On Tuesday, Mr. Musk He said Analysts intend to contact his government’s work to a “day or two per week” to restore his attention to his companies. Administration officials who have knowledge of Mr. Musk’s schedule said they have already noticed that he reduced the amount of time spending in Washington.
By calling back to the number of days he spends at the White House, Mr. Musk can also extend within 130 days that has been allocated as a “private government employee”.
Zach montageand Emily Badgerand Wilson Andrews and Alexandra Birzon The reports contributed.
