Elon Musk is reportedly expected to step away from his role as President Trump’s the most prominent advisor of in coming months amid widespread questions about his political effectiveness.
Trump recently told members of his inner circle that he and Musk have agreed the world’s richest man will soon return to mostly running his companies like Tesla and SpaceX, Politico reported Wednesday, quoting three unnamed Trump aides.
The president is denying reports of any political split with the billionaire first buddy and has portrayed the shift as mutually agreeable. A source also confirmed the basic contours of the move to ABC News.
President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to the press as they sit in a Tesla vehicle on the South Portico of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Even in public, Trump has hinted at an impending reduced role for the world’s richest man, who has become the face of the administration’s budget cutting austerity push.
“At some point Elon’s going to want to go back to his company. He wants to,” Trump told reporters Monday. “I’d keep him as long as I could keep him.”
Musk has long been cagey about his actual role in Trump’s administration. Even though he’s widely considered the most powerful person next to Trump, he has no formal post and is officially listed only as a “special government employee.”
People are permitted to remain in such positions, which allow them to avoid intrusive financial disclosures, for no more than 130 days within a year.
The purported decision by the White House to put some daylight between Trump and Musk come as serious questions arise about his popularity and political effectiveness.
Musk plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into the MAGA campaign and has become perhaps Trump’s biggest cheerleader on the campaign trail.
Since Trump took office, Musk has effectively led the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has mounted an agency-by-agency effort to slash government operations.
Polls have showed most Americans disapprove of Musk’s prominent role. Democrats have made him the poster boy for Trump’s cuts, which they portray as an attack on basic social services that millions rely on.
Musk suffered a major political black eye Tuesday when Democrats dramatically outperformed expectations in two Florida congressional special elections and a marquee vote for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The South African-born mogul poured millions into the Wisconsin race and donned a cheesehead hat for an election eve rally at which he claimed “Western civilization” was at stake.
The conservative candidate he backed, Brad Schimel, lost to liberal Susan Crawford by 10%, a relative landslide in the evenly divided perennial swing state. Crawford’s victory led Democrats to proclaim Musk as a liability to the GOP.
“Musk (is) a big loser,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday. “Republicans can keep spinning the American people. We’re gonna keep beating them.
