Musk leaves White House with frustrations, little progress on debt

Elon Musk is exiting the White House with little to show for his cost-cutting push and a list of frustrations from his time in the Trump administration. 

Musk entered politics with grand ambitions of slashing federal spending and chipping away at the $36 trillion in national debt. 

But after months of serving Trump as a loyal supporter and close advisor, Musk has grown increasingly critical of the president’s fiscal policies as his own efforts fall short. 

The tech billionaire announced his departure Wednesday shortly after voicing concerns about a sweeping tax and spending bill backed by Trump and congressional Republicans, which is expected to add trillions of dollars to the national debt.  

“He’s running into the realities that we’ve been trying to cut government for decades and trying to cut spending, and it’s been incredibly difficult,” Republican strategist Chris Johnson told The Hill. 

“I think Musk leaving is probably due to that frustration, just the reality of running into the same problem that conservatives have been running into for 30 years, where without big, bold acts of Congress ... there’s really limited stuff that you’re going to be able to cut. And ultimately, there’s just not an appetite for those kind of cuts apparently in the House right now.” 

Trump announced Thursday night that he would hold a press conference Friday with Musk to mark the end of his official government service, tamping down on speculation of a rift between the two.

“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

But Musk's willingness to go to bat for Trump — and his alignment with the president's agenda — are in question after his tumultuous White House stint.

Musk began Trump’s second term with big plans to cut up to $2 trillion from the federal budget, an attempt to begin paying down a record-shattering national debt he pinned on leaders in both parties. 

As the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) panel, Musk led a crusade to dramatically cut the size of the federal government and its spending. 

But as DOGE hit several well-worn roadblocks to serious debt reduction, the cost-cutting team claimed to identify $160 billion in potential spending cuts, some of which must be approved by Congress. 

A source close to the White House suggested that Musk “tried to make a good faith effort” but ran into the limitations of the government. 

“Here's a guy who can put rockets on moon … and somehow he ran into government,” they said. “Just the mechanization of government, and for him, I think, that was very confounding and difficult.” 

Meanwhile, Congress is ramping up efforts to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which would extend and expand tax cuts from the president’s signature 2017 tax law, in addition to making sweeping new cuts to Medicaid and food stamps.  

Despite the new cuts, the bill is expected to grow the federal debt by roughly $3.8 trillion over ten years, drawing Musk’s ire. 

“I was, like, 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,” Musk said in a snippet of an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” set to air later this week.  

Johnson underscored that the deficit has never been a key priority for Trump, as opposed to issues like immigration, trade and foreign policy. 

“There’s always the ‘Take Trump seriously, not literally’ thing. I wish they had taken him a little more seriously,” he said. 

“This sort of America First, new right, MAGA crowd is much more comfortable with using state power and expanding the state in certain places and spending government money to do certain things,” Johnson added. 

“If Elon had taken that a little bit more seriously going in, he probably wouldn’t be as frustrated and be much more levelheaded about what the likely outcomes would be and what was the art of the possible,” he continued. 

The Trump administration and House Republicans appeared keen to appease Musk on Wednesday, indicating they would move quickly on long-promised DOGE cuts in Congress. 

The White House now plans to send a package clawing back $9.4 billion in funding to lawmakers next week, while Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) vowed to codify the cuts and touted Musk’s “incredible work exposing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government.” 

However, Musk has indicated that rising debt levels aren’t his only concern with the bill. The Tesla CEO reposted an X post from his company Tesla Energy late Wednesday, suggesting the legislation moves too quickly to phase out Biden-era low-carbon energy tax credits. 

The tech billionaire’s opposition comes at a key moment for the bill, as it faces an uncertain future in the Senate amid a growing chorus of complaints from fiscal hawks in Congress and other prominent conservative voices. 

This isn’t the first time Musk has clashed with Trump and other conservatives during his fourth-month stint in the White House. 

Even before Trump was sworn in, Musk was sparring online with other conservatives over H1-B visas, a temporary, nonimmigrant work permit. He and other Silicon Valley leaders argued the program was key for bringing in international talent to U.S. companies, while more hardline GOP voices alleged it was taking jobs away from Americans. 

Once Trump took office, the tech billionaire still didn’t hold back, publicly criticizing the president’s Stargate initiative with OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, which aims to funnel $500 billion into new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the U.S. 

Musk also clashed with Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro on tariffs, a key part of the president's economic agenda. The Tesla CEO argued for a “zero-tariff situation” between the U.S. and Europe, shortly after Trump levied wide-ranging “reciprocal” tariffs on numerous countries, including the European Union.  

In private, he butted heads with Trump’s Cabinet, reportedly arguing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy during a closed-door meeting and engaging in a heated exchange with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the West Wing. 

However, Musk appeared eager Thursday to dispel the perception that his departure was spurred by the latest spat with Trump and Republican lawmakers, reposting several X posts downplaying the clash and underscoring the legal limits of his role as a special government employee. 

Musk was legally required to leave his current role after 130 days. The original deadline was May 30, although the tech mogul had already pulled back from his government work in recent weeks to refocus on his companies. 

The DOGE team’s efforts inspired intense political blowback and threats to Musk’s business empire. Tesla, in particular, became a symbol for the billionaire and DOGE, prompting peaceful protests and violent demonstrations. 

The electric vehicle firm’s bottom line also felt the pinch, as its liberal buyers sought to distance themselves from Musk and his company, in some cases ditching their Tesla vehicles.  

After Tesla reported a steep 71 percent drop in earnings last month, Musk announced he would be stepping back from DOGE.  

He underscored his renewed commitment to his business empire last weekend, saying he was back to “spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms.” His comments prompted Tesla’s stock to jump Monday. 

Musk also said last week that he would pull back from political spending in the future, after pouring at least $250 million into the 2024 election to boost Trump.  

However, he has continued to stand by his DOGE work. He lamented in a Washington Post interview Tuesday that the cost-cutting effort had become “the whipping boy for everything.” 

“He took a lot of hits personally and professionally,” the source close to the White House said, adding, “That was a lot of heat for anyone to take. Musk was a weapon for Trump because Musk was taking as much heat, if not more at times, than Trump.” 

Brett Samuels contributed to this report.