Elon Musk really, and really hopes investors know that they’re leaving Washington, DC.
In a series of interviews and social media posts this week, Musk criticized Donald Trump’s marquee tax bill, highlighting his key recommendations for SpaceX, Tesla and artificial intelligence company Xai. The wealthiest person in the world claimed he was back to working 24 hours a day at his company.
Musk has been telegraphing pivots into his business for several months, but in his recent appearances he has repeatedly distanced himself from the unpopular stints in Washington, declaring that his only new focus is his technological empire. It’s a dramatic turn for Musk, who spent most of the last year constantly on the Trump side, promoting far-right ideology online, appeared on the stage at political rallies and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Republican Party.
This shift that comes amidst the public and investor backlash against Musk’s political ambitions was revealed this week as SpaceX began and controlled control of the Starship prototype rocket. Musk has made a series of media appearances for influencers from The Washington Post, ARS Technica, CBS News Sunday Morning and YouTube Aerospace. All of these were characterized by emphasizing his dedication to the company and attempting to explain the shortcomings of being criticized by the “government’s efficiency sector.”
“The situation with federal bureaucracy is much worse than I noticed,” Musk told the Washington Post Tuesday. “I thought there was a problem, but to say the least, I’m sure it’s a tough fight to improve things in DC.”
Musk further said Doge had been transformed into a “flogger boy” who was criticised for what was wrong under the Trump administration. On Ars Technica, Musk admitted: “I think I probably spent a bit of time in politics.”
Defeating Trump’s tax bill
The shift from Trump’s self-appointed “first buddy” to the familiar territory of space travel and technology is that Doge faces many legal challenges and remains widely unpopular.
Musk has successfully sown allies in the government and helped Gatt regulators oversee his company, but Doge’s central promise to cut $200 million worth of fraud and waste was a clear failure. While devastating government services, humanitarian aid and the federal workforce, Doge cuts have been little when it comes to actual budget savings. Much of the savings claimed in the “receipt wall” turned out to be false, including the cancellation of a $8 billion contract, which was actually a $8 million contract.
Musk’s answer to Doge’s shortcomings appears to hold his familiar enemies, politicians and bureaucrats, accountable. But doing so has made him more and more divided with the Republican Party, but has not led to criticism in particular of Trump himself.
Musk’s split with Congressional Republicans was the toughest on X, the social media platform he owns. Musk’s post leaned entirely towards the narrative that Doge’s actions have been successful in reducing waste, but Congress has hampered its activities through actions such as approving Trump’s tax bill, which is expected to add 2.3TN to the deficit.
“Disappointing at the disappointment of seeing the massive spending bill that will increase the budget deficit, damaging the work the Doge team is doing.”
Now, Musk claims its focus is on saving humanity through technologies such as self-driving cars, interplanetary rockets and humanoid robots.
“We have come to the apparent conclusion that accelerating GDP growth is essential,” Musk posted on Friday in response to a thread calling the GOP bill “disastrous.” “Doge does an amazing job postponing the US bankruptcy date, but the wealth of government means that only radical improvements in productivity can save our country.”
In another exchange, he answered a conversation between two users with a large follower who routinely praised his leadership and business insights.
“I think Elon recognizes that despite the promises made by the new administration and Republican-controlled Congress, and all the campaign platforms they have implemented, despite the government’s current incentive structure and the special interests that have been established, it is almost impossible to enact meaningful long-term changes to address many of the major issues we face.
After the newsletter promotion
“Doge did an incredible job, but GOP actually failed to implement the cut,” replied another prominent Musk Booster.
“Yes (sighs),” Musk replied to the thread.
Masks return to selling the future
What became clear throughout the era of masks in Washington was that the public hadn’t seen him, and that many of the Trump administration didn’t like to work with him. Many polls have shown that his overall popularity has declined, even if people support the premise of reducing government inefficiency. Musk’s prominent involvement in the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections has strengthened his opposition to his influence, and international demonstrations have made him the face of the administration. Musk also discovered that he has few friends within the Trump administration. Reports of violent clashes with senior officials and some Republican political operatives warning that his brand has become too toxic to the party.
The pushback to the mask has affected his business, with Tesla sales plummeting and the company’s board of directors reportedly beginning to consider replacing him as CEO. Musk has denied these claims, but in recent weeks he has reaffirmed his dedication to leading the business very loudly.
“I’m going back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in meetings/servers/factory rooms,” he posted on Saturday. “I have to be very focused on 𝕏/Xai and Tesla (and next week’s spacecraft launch) as critical technology is rolling out.”
A few weeks ago, Musk’s post on X was a non-dead-end stream of Fringe’s theory of demands on the Democrats, immigration and the justice system, but his online output has also changed. His post this week focuses on SpaceX’s ambitions to go to Mars and Tesla’s self-driving car programme, and has been stopped occasionally to encourage attacks on the “awakening mind virus” or feud with his hometown South African government.
As Musk attempted to move away from full-time politics and regain investor trust, he doubled his habit of grand predicting how his technology would change the world. Reflecting a long list of previous claims that have missed deadlines and so far failed to make it, he has promoted new efforts like Tesla’s humanoid robots as important to the future of civilization.
“When you get a humanoid robot, the real economic output possibilities are incredible. It’s truly endless,” Musk said on the stage at the Saudi Arabian Investment Forum on May 13th. “Potentially, we can have an economy ten times the size of the world economy.
Rather than just staying in a year of missed targets and a year of intense backlash, masks are back to selling a future where anything can be done.