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Elon Musk receives the key to the White House from U.S. President Donald Trump during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS/Nathan Howard
US President Donald Trump bid farewell to Elon Musk in the Oval Office on Friday, providing a cordial conclusion to a tumultuous tenure for the billionaire entrepreneur.
Musk is leaving his position spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and he’ll be rededicating himself to running his businesses, including electric automaker Tesla, rocket company SpaceX and social media platform X.
Trump credited Musk with “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and said some of his staff would remain in the administration.
Musk, who wore all black, including a T-shirt that said “The Dogefather”, nodded along as the president listed contracts that had been cut under his watch.
“I think the DOGE team is doing an incredible job. They’re going to continue to be doing an incredible job,” Musk said after accepting a ceremonial key from the president.
He left a searing mark on the federal bureaucracy, including thousands of employees who were fired or pushed out. Some government functions were eviscerated, such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided a lifeline for impoverished people around the world.
Boston University researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have already died as a result of the cuts.
The State Department responded by saying most of USAID’s programmes on HIV, known as PEPFAR, remained operational. However, the statement did not address any of the other cuts while calling on “other nations to dramatically increase their humanitarian efforts”.
Despite the upheaval, Musk also fell far short of his goals. After promising to cut USD 1 trillion or even USD 2 trillion in federal spending, he lowered expectations to only USD 150 billion in the current fiscal year.
It’s unclear whether that target has been hit. The DOGE website tallies USD 175 billion in savings, but its information has been riddled with errors and embellishments.
Musk had a bruise next to his right eye in the Oval Office, which he explained by saying he had been “horsing around” with his young son.
“I said, go ahead punch me in the face,” he said. “And he did.” Trump said Musk led the “most sweeping and consequential government reform effort in generations”.
He suggested that Musk is “really not leaving” and “he’s going to be back and forth” to keep tabs on what’s happening in the administration.
There were signs, however, that attention was already shifting away from Musk, who once appeared omnipresent in Washington.
He often stood quietly next to Trump as reporters peppered him with questions about the French president (he’s great), Joe Biden’s autopen (it’s bad) and the potential for pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs (he’ll look at the facts).
When Musk was asked about the impact of tariffs on Tesla — something Musk has expressed concerns about in the past — Trump jumped in to answer.
Musk, the world’s richest person, recently said he would reduce his political donations. He was Trump’s top donor in last year’s presidential campaign.
Trump appeared eager to end Musk’s service on a high note.
“This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,” Trump wrote on social media on Thursday evening. “Elon is terrific!” As a special government employee, Musk’s position was designed to be temporary. However, he speculated about staying “indefinitely”, working part time for the administration, if Trump still wanted his help.
Musk has brushed off questions about how DOGE would continue without him, even suggesting it could “gain momentum” in the future.
“DOGE is a way of life,” he told reporters recently. “Like Buddhism.”
Published on May 31, 2025
This article first appeared on The Hindu Business Line
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