Overview

• Musk leveraged his role as a special government employee to enact roughly 260,000 federal job cuts and cancel multibillion-dollar contracts in pursuit of lower spending.
• He publicly denounced the administration’s “big, beautiful bill,” calling it a “massive spending bill” that conflicted with DOGE’s efficiency mandate.
• Tensions with senior officials, including trade adviser Peter Navarro, and legal challenges over mass firings and data access marked his brief tenure.
• Facing pressure from Tesla’s sales slump and investor concerns, Musk signaled plans to reduce political donations and return focus to his businesses.
• With Musk’s departure, DOGE faces an uncertain path forward amid pending court battles and questions over who will carry on its cost-cutting agenda.