WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 9: White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) on March 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump was returning to the White House after spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida. Samuel Corum/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Samuel Corum / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Washington, D.C. | Hobnob News — In a surprising twist that signals a major shift in political tech alliances, Elon Musk has announced his departure from his advisory role in the U.S. government, citing disagreements with President Donald Trump’s massive new spending bill.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk posted on X, his social media platform.
“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Musk’s resignation comes on the heels of his public criticism of Trump’s much-touted “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act”, which recently passed the House and is heading to the Senate. Though intended to slash waste and offer tax relief, critics — and now Musk — warn it could balloon the national deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade and gut essential services like healthcare.
In an interview with CBS News, 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.”
Musk had been appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — an initiative to trim bureaucratic fat and reduce federal payrolls. Under Musk, tens of thousands of government employees were let go and several departments were shut down. But the role also made Musk a lightning rod for controversy.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Musk said:
“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything. Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.”
Musk blamed entrenched bureaucracy for DOGE’s mixed results but admitted the Washington landscape was tougher than expected.
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized… it’s an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC.”
Backlash from the public wasn’t limited to policy. Protesters targeted Tesla dealerships, with some even torching electric vehicles in anger over cost-cutting measures. Tesla’s profits also took a hit.
“People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool,” Musk lamented.
Musk’s pivot away from politics also comes as Space X faces its own challenges. On Tuesday, the company’s Starship prototype exploded over the Indian Ocean during testing — yet another setback in Musk’s long-term goal of colonizing Mars.
The billionaire, who was once one of Trump’s top backers and a major donor to his 2024 campaign, now says he will pull back from political spending, after reportedly burning through $250 million in support of Trump’s return to power.
As the “Big, Beautiful Bill” continues to face scrutiny in the Senate, Musk’s exit underscores a growing rift among even the most powerful allies of the Trump administration.
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