Elon Musk has addressed the situation with his position in the Trump administration.

It’s no secret that Musk and President Donald Trump have been very close since his inauguration on January 20 this year.

However, the Tesla and SpaceX boss has had to go focus more of his time on his companies after investors became worried about how he was splitting his time between his projects and the government.

The billionaire businessman and Trump agreed that he would lead the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and see where he could make things better in the administration.

This was short-lived as Chief of Staff Susie Wiles recently revealed that Musk is no longer working directly alongside Trump anymore.

In an interview with The New York Post, she said: “Instead of meeting with him in person, I’m talking to him on the phone, but it’s the same net effect. He’s not out of it altogether. He’s just not physically present as much as he was. He hasn’t been here physically, but it really doesn’t matter much.

Elon Musk has seemingly addressed his position in the Trump administration (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“The people that are doing this work are here doing good things and paying attention to the details. He’ll be stepping back a little, but he’s certainly not abandoning it. And his people are definitely not.”

So, there have been a lot of questions surrounding why he is now stepping back from his post.

While speculations ran rampant about just where he will fit in regarding the White House, the electric-vehicle head has gone on to speak up about rumors.

In a new post on X, Musk claimed that he is back at his offices to give his all to his own companies, seemingly confirming that he’s totally stepping back from being involved in politics in general.

The post stated: “Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms. I must be super focused on X/AI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out..”

Anyway, now that it’s clear that he will not be returning to presidential aide duties, he can focus on his space endeavours. But it appears that he made enemies while he was helping Trump with his goals.

Musk posted to X his thoughts of his future (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

According to a report by The Atlantic, which is based on the confessions of 14 anonymous White House confidants, he’s not well liked.

Could it be because he sent an email in February to the entire federal workforce with the demand to list five tasks they’d completed that week, or they could not bother coming into work?

“How many people were fired because they didn’t send in their three things a week or whatever the f**k it was?” an anonymous Trump adviser told the outlet. “I think that everyone is ready to move on from this part of the administration.”

Or, maybe it was when he came into the White House with a ‘Silicon Valley mindset’?

Matt Calkins, the CEO of a Virginia-based software company, Appian, and has worked within the federal government for more than 20 years, said Musk’s downfall could be partly down to the way he thinks.

“He comes in with his idealism and his Silicon Valley playbook, and a few interesting things happened. Does the ‘move fast and break things’ model work in Washington? Not really,” Calkins said.

A shocking report has ‘revealed’ just what White House staff really think of Elon Musk.

It’s no secret that the Tesla and SpaceX boss isn’t particularly popular with the general public, nor the federal workforce.

Agitation for the billionaire businessman has been boiling over ever since he declared himself Donald Trump‘s ‘First Buddy’ and was picked to head the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – and with unnerving enthusiasm.

Since January, Musk has brought Tesla Cybertrucks to the White House front lawn and at one point sported a literal chainsaw as a metaphor for his unapologetic approach, which has slashed budgets, axed jobs and, according to a new report, severed friendships.

He’s been quite enthusiastic about his post (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

A new bombshell report by The Atlantic based on the confessions of 14 anonymous White House confidants has lifted the lid on just what those in the upper order of the Trump administration really think of him.

Here’s everything of note:

Musk’s clash with Scott Bessent

“F*** you!”, rang through the West Wing last month, not once but three times, and apparently within earshot of the POTUS himself.

Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, launched his expletive-filled rant after Musk picked a new IRS leader behind his back.

However, the report reveals the feud was just one of many between Musk and Trump’s top dogs.

Bessent recently screamed at him (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The ultimatum email

In February, Musk pinged off an email to the entire federal workforce one weekend with the demand to list five tasks they’d completed that week – or don’t bother coming to work.

“How many people were fired because they didn’t send in their three things a week or whatever the f*** it was?” an anonymous Trump adviser told the outlet. “I think that everyone is ready to move on from this part of the administration.”

‘Chaos’ in workforce cuts

High up on the list of Musk’s most unpopular moves has been his efforts to slash the federal workforce as well as grants, contracts and leases, which he claimed saved $170 billion.

However, that figure has shifted due to program reinstatements and errors, The Atlantic adds, and while the 4.5-million-strong workforce has been chiselled down by tens of thousands, some of those too are up in the air because of court orders.

According to one adviser, Musk performed the cuts in a ‘haphazard’ way that caused chaos.

Musk said he was merely ‘tech support’ for the president (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

It was possibly all for nothing too, or at least very little, as it’s now transpired that Musk failed to find anything close to the 13-figure saving he’d initially promised.

The 53-year-old appeared to admit this when his revised goal of $1 trillion, down from the $2 trillion target, was proving ‘really, really difficult’ to meet.

“It’s not easy,” he added. “This is—this is a way to make a lot of enemies and not that many friends.”

Questions over actual efficiency

Ayushi Roy, a former technologist at the General Services Administration, suggested that while Musk did cut the workforce – and traumatized those who have managed to cling on – he didn’t make anything more efficient.

She said: “I am waiting for them to actually deliver something. Right now they have just been deleting things. They haven’t added any value.

“If it is just us hatcheting things instead of improving or even replacing them, the goal, to me, is not actually about improving efficiency.”

Calkins suggested Musk’s ‘Silicon Valley’ approach isn’t appropriate for government (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

‘Silicon Valley mindset’

Matt Calkins, the CEO of a Virginia-based software company, Appian, who has also worked within the federal government for more than 20 years, said Musk’s downfall has been approaching the task with the wrong mindset.

“He comes in with his idealism and his Silicon Valley playbook, and a few interesting things happened. Does the ‘move fast and break things’ model work in Washington? Not really,” Calkins said.

‘Killing children’ in cuts to foreign aid

Although it was actually fellow billionaire and philanthropist, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, who publicly condemned Musk as ‘the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children,’ the tech mogul faced severe backlash when DOGE axed foreign aid.

Musk said USAID (United States Agency for International Development), that has been the largest humanitarian operator around the globe, was a ‘criminal organization’ and that it was ‘time for it to die‘.

Bill Gates didn’t hold back in his criticism of Musk for the cuts to foreign aid (Bruce Glikas/WireImage)

In line with this assault, DOGE also cut The Inter-American Foundation, an independent US foreign assistance agency, from 48 employees to the ‘statutory minimum’ of just one.

Apparently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wasn’t happy with the dissolution of foreign aid or the cut back to the Inter-American Foundation.

The Atlantic reports Musk had challenged Rubio for not reducing his staff – and the statesman stood his ground.

“That was one of the turning points for Trump and Marco, where Trump realized Marco had a little spine,” a Trump ally said.

‘Ambush’ of concerns from veterans to aviation safety

At one point, Musk was reportedly ‘ambushed’ by Rubio as well as Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

According to the report, Trump had arranged the meeting in March, stating they will ‘have at it’ after the advisors were reportedly angry with Musk for overstepping and, as one adviser said, essentially ‘setting [agencies] on fire.’

The adviser explained: “[Musk] miscalculated his ability to act just completely autonomously. He had some missteps in all of these agencies, which would have been fine because everyone acknowledges that when you’re moving fast and breaking things, not everything is going to go right.

Marco Rubio is another Trump ally that apparently hasn’t been happy with Musk’s moves (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“But it’s different when you do that and you don’t even have the buy-in of the agency you’re setting on fire.”

Before his spat with Rubio, Duffy had also accused Musk of trying to lay off air traffic controllers at a time when the US was reeling from ‘multiple plane crashes’.

Meanwhile, Collins pulled up the fact Musk’s cuts threaten thousands of veterans, a core of Trump’s voter base.

Trump’s tariffs

A turning point appeared to come from Trump’s tariffs as the billionaire called for a ‘zero-tariff situation’, while Tesla voiced concerns about counter-tariffs affecting business.

Hammering the nail in the coffin, Musk also called Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’.

Trump later confirmed that Musk would not be attending a Pentagon briefing about a potential war with China based on his apparent conflict of interest.

Steve Bannon said this Pentagon spat changed everything, writing: “You could feel it, everything changed, the fever had been broken.”

Trump and Musk’s friendship is still going strong (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

‘No one likes the guy’

Rushab Sanghvi, the general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, is another who is celebrating Musk’s soon departure, saying: “If he had stayed in the shadows and done his stuff, who knows how bad it would have been? But no one likes the guy.”

The end of Musk in DOGE?

As a ‘special government employee,’ Musk’s time at the head of DOGE was always limited to 130 days.

Now, it appears time is up with Musk himself telling reporters that he’s been cutting down on DOGE issues to a few days per week, then to ‘every other week’ and, most recently, stating: “I think I’ve done enough.”

And if this report is to be believed, many of Trump’s allies might just be breathing a sigh of relief about that.

Former DOGE chief Elon Musk has addressed the visible black eye he was sporting during his farewell event at the White House.

Musk has been in the news a great deal lately after he stepped down from his political role after nearly half a year by President Donald Trump’s side.

There had been a lot of rumors going around which speculated whether Musk would be leaving his post as CEO of Tesla or the White House after investors publicly called him out for him not tending to his electric vehicle company as much as he should.

Anyway, earlier this week he confirmed that he is stepping down from his role as a ‘Special Government Employee’ – AKA, leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – meaning he and the president are professionally divorcing one another.

After the announcement on X, people were itching to hear from the POTUS, and after just one day, the 78-year-old reacted to the news.

Elon Musk is no longer a part of DOGE (Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Obviously, Trump would react as Musk handed in his resignation a few days earlier than he was intended to step down, as well as him criticizing Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’.

Speaking to CBS in a preview clip on May 27, Musk said: “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill frankly, which increases the budget deficit not just decrease 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 could be both, my personal opinion.”

To this, the president took to Truth Social and posted: “I am having a Press Conference tomorrow at 1:30 P.M. EST, with Elon Musk, at the Oval Office. This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific! See you tomorrow at the White House.”

Well, their press conference at the White House yesterday (30 May) went well, but at the end of the briefing, a reporter asked Musk if his eye was ‘ok’?

People were quick to notice Musk had a bruised eye during his farewell event at the White House (Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

As you can see in the photograph above, Musk was sporting a very visible bruised eye.

To this, Musk laughed and made a Joke about French President Emmanuel Macron, who appeared to be ‘slapped’ by his wife as he got off a plane in Asia, when he said: “I wasn’t anywhere near France.”

Then, he revealed the real reason, and I think every parent can relate.

Musk claimed the bruise came from his five-year-old son during some rough play, telling to reporter: ” I was just horsing around with little X, and I said punch me in the face, and he did.

Musk claims his five-year-old son punched him (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“It turns out even a 5-year-old punching you in the face, accidentally, it bruises up.”

People on social media were quick to talk about the bruise, with one person asking: “Is anyone watching the joint news conference from the White House? What on earth is in the left upper corner of Elon Musk’s face right by his left eye.”

“Elon Musk is sporting a black eye in the oval today,” another stated.

Elon Musk has got people wondering about how solid his relationship with Donald Trump is with his latest comments about his future political spending.

Billionaire Elon Musk was one of the most outspoken supporters of Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House and reportedly spent more than $250m in support of Trump’s campaign.

Since returning to the White House, both figures have repeatedly praised one another for their work and this saw Musk land himself a role in the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

A few weeks ago, however, Musk announced that he would be stepping back from this and focusing more on his many businesses.

Elon Musk was one of Trump’s most prominent supporters (Live Now from Fox)

However, rumors have continued to persist that Musk is stepping away due to a strained relationship with Trump and these have only increased in recent weeks.

Regarding political spending, while speaking virtually at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday (May 20), Musk explained he wouldn’t be dabbling in it in the future.

Musk said: “I think, in terms of political spending, I am going to do a lot less in the future.”

When pressed on why that is, Musk simply replied that he had ‘done enough’.

He was then asked whether the backlash he has received was part of the reason, and Musk sort of sidestepped the question and replied: “Well, if I see a reason for political spending in the future I will do it, I don’t currently see a reason.”

Videos of this snippet from the conversation have begun to spread on social media and viewers have chimed in with their own theories on what could be the reason behind this.

Some suggested Musk wanted to take a step back in order to focus more on his businesses as his union with Trump hadn’t been the success he was hoping for.

Most interestingly, Trump has appeared to stop mentioning Musk on his social media posts, going from an average of four times per week in February to once since the start of April, further fueling rumors their relationship is floundering.

One Twitter user said: “Trump has realized people hate Musk and he’s become a liability. The DOGE program has become a joke and a failure. It’s time for Elon to go under the bus.”

While another argued: “Musks board sent him a clear message. He needs to focus on his business. He’s had his fun playing president.”

Social media users have their own theories about why Musk will be reducing his political spending(Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

A third noted: “He’s stepping back because his association with MAGA proved toxic to his brand. But we won’t forget.”

However, others have insisted the billionaire is simply choosing to reroute his focus after getting all that he wanted out of his support of Trump.

Another user wrote: “Musk got everything he wanted from his foray into politics. Now he’s just deciding what to do with it all. If he realizes he missed a server, he’ll be back.”

With another adding: “No, he had been pretty clear on his role and that he wouldn’t be involved long. Trump won and DOGE was instituted, those were his goals, so now he’s stepped aside. People just keep trying to lie and spin it into something more to create a narrative.”