Elon Musk Steps Down from Government Role After Criticizing Trump Administration

Elon Musk has announced his departure from politics, expressing disappointment with the Trump administration.

The world’s richest man had been serving in a unique capacity within the U.S. government as a Special Government Employee—a role that allows individuals to work up to 130 days per year in a federal position. Musk’s official end date was scheduled for May 28, but he chose to resign three days early, just one day after publicly criticizing President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled spending proposal, dubbed the “big, beautiful bill.”

In a preview clip aired on CBS on Tuesday (May 27), Musk said:

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit instead of decreasing it, and undermines the work that the Doge team is doing.
I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful… but I don’t know if it can be both, in my personal opinion.”

According to the BBC, following Musk’s public remarks, the White House began working to formally “offboard” him. Musk later posted additional comments on his social media platform, X:

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.
The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

President Trump has yet to officially address the matter, though he did post a cryptic meme on Truth Social showing himself walking alone down a dark street, with the caption:

“He’s on a mission from God & nothing can stop what is coming.”

Although Musk was never elected by the public, he had been leading a new government division alongside former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

His mission was to streamline the US government through plans to axe thousands of jobs and drastically reduce the wage bill, and once he had finished his mission, he had vowed to disband the department – setting a completion date of no later than July 4, 2026… Independence Day next year.

As Trump put it, his primary objective is to ‘dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies’.

The initiative has already engaged in mass layoffs across the country, overseen the removal of diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) programs, and it’s made sizeable cuts to the Department of Education.

What is the ‘big, beautiful bill’?

The spending bill includes an increased in defense spending, including Trump’s ambition to implement a ‘Golden Dome’ above the US which would protect it from enemy missiles, as well as multi-trillion dollar tax breaks.

Having just squeezed through the House of Representatives, it will now go to the senate.

It is believed that the new legislation could could increase government spending by around $600 billion in the next fiscal year – which the SpaceX owner believes ‘undermines’ his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.