After his sudden rise to political power and involvement in politics on the national and state (basically one state, Wisconsin) levels, Tesla & SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is stepping away from Washington D.C. as he leaves the Department of Government Efficiency. The decision comes after a series of frustrations by Mr. Musk as he encountered roadblocks in his quest to dismantle bureaucracy in the federal government. Mr. Musk also took issue with President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that passed the U.S. House this week, saying it only added more spending and was counterproductive.

Musk became a key supporter of President Trump’s 2024 campaign last summer, hosting him on an X livestream, attending rallies, and most crucially, donating millions of dollars to Mr. Trump. Musk also spoke at Trump’s inauguration “parade” in January, in which he made a controversial gesture that many saw as a Nazi salute, while Musk vehemently disputes that claim.

DOGE has seen little success thus far, with the New York Times finding in April that the group massively overstated its accomplishments and spending cuts, and made several errors, intentional or not, in its public list of cuts, with some claims of billions saved, when in actuality no savings were made at all. DOGE also faced legal challenges, with numerous court rulings preventing cuts from fully executing, frustrating Musk, and there were other controversies as well, such as past racist statements of a DOGE employee coming to light.

As for Mr. Musk’s other endeavors, Tesla stocks fell sharply over the past few months, leading to reports that the Tesla board of directors was considering ousting Musk, and investors desperately want him to return his focus to the company as sales decline. SpaceX has continued at a stable pace, but Musk is expected to return to his full role there as well. It was announced yesterday that a close Musk ally, Jared Isaacman, would not be the Trump administration’s pick for NASA administrator, another defeat for the tech billionaire.