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On Friday, the Trump administration made a big show of what they were calling Elon Musk’s last day as a special government employee — even as few seem to believe Elon Musk is actually leaving for good.
And that includes the president and vice president.
Trump posted on his Truth Social account Thursday night that Musk is “not really” leaving and that the his top campaign contributor “will, always, be with us, helping all the way.” Vice President JD Vance said much the same thing in an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, when he claimed it’s “totally wrong” for media outlets to suggest “the Elon era is over” as far as the administration is concerned.
“Now, he has, obviously, a day job, and he’s got to go back to his day job to run his companies, but the DOGE effort will continue,” Vance said, adding, “Elon will continue to be an important adviser for both me and the president. And most importantly, the job of making the government more efficient, of not wasting people’s money, that has to continue.”
It’s worth noting that the White House hasn’t been fully transparent about Musk’s role at DOGE in the past — telling courts that he wasn’t really in charge, even as they told the public something else — so it’s hard to take their word about his departure now. Even if Musk is no longer there in an “official” capacity, it sounds they want to keep Musk involved in the administration’s decision-making, just as some Democrats like Texas Rep. Greg Casar have warned.
Of course, there are plenty of reasons why the administration — and Musk — may want to give the impression that they are parting ways in some substantial degree.
Recent polling suggests that Musk is widely unpopular with Americans, as are many of the cuts he’s sought to federal programs. And his self-described mission to slash trillions of dollars in so-called government waste have fallen far short of that goal. Even by Musk’s own metrics, his stint as a special government employee was a failure.
For his part, Musk’s dubious foray into politics has also done a great deal of harm to the brand — and bottom line — of his company Tesla, whose investors are demanding he spend more time on his company to stop the bleeding. One wonders if Musk’s recent press tour and his airing of criticisms of House Republicans’ budget is part of this public relations maneuver.
What we do know is that Musk’s involvement with the administration has coincided with some tremendous perks for him: It has given his team unprecedented access to Americans’ data, which at least one Democratic senator fears could be used to further his business ambitions. It appears to have given him a platform to try to derail federal investments and investigations that don’t benefit his private companies, all while the Trump administration has pressured foreign countries to do deals to boost Musk.
It’s not common practice for billionaires (much less the richest man on earth) to give up such power and influence freely and completely. And as it turns out, hardly anyone seems to think that’s what’s going on with Musk’s “last day.”