The tech billionaire and Tesla and SpaceX boss, Elon Musk, who was once hailed as US President Donald Trump’s right-hand, is now facing a serious fall.
Musk has been riding high since he was appointed the president’s special adviser, looking after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but his time in the White House is rapidly coming to an end.
Musk is currently leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brand-new federal agency tasked with ‘making the government leaner, faster, cheaper and more efficient’.
According to various reports Musk rolled out big plans to cut hundreds of thousands of USD of government jobs and reduce federal spending by a huge amount $2 trillion.
But his aggressive slash-and-burn approach to the federal workforce and his frequent outbursts on X – his social media platform have upset most of the Trump cabinet members.
He is seen as a political liability. His anger have been highlighted his dismal failure in Wisconsin, where he ploughed $20m into doomed Republican candidates in the state’s Supreme Court race. It was widely viewed as a referendum on Musk.
The president himself was reportedly incensed that Musk was given clearance for a Pentagon briefing on China, as he was concerned it represented a potential conflict with the tech mogul’s business dealings.
And in another split, Musk took to X over the weekend to bash Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro over his defense of the president’s tariffs.
According to sources, Trump is a still a big fan of Elon Musk, but it appears that two are destined to part despite the SpaceX boss’ whopping $288 million campaign donation.
According to the WSJ Trump recognized potential difficulties early on. He asked his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to have weekly meetings with the billionaire ‘first buddy’ after receiving reports of friction among his top staff.
But according to another source , Wiles wasn’t the only the person Musk clashed with.
Musk and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, reportedly had it out during a Cabinet meeting an argument that took place in front of President Trump and Wiles.
Many Trump officials that includes Wiles were said to be frustrated that Musk wasn’t sharing his plans before he made public announcements about what his DOGE team was doing to their agencies.
His lack of coordination would throw off the White House message of the day and rollout plans for the administration’s initiatives.
Yet, one of the most shocking moments in Musk’s downfall came when reports emerged that he was scheduled to receive a sensitive Pentagon briefing on US war plans and issues related to China.
News of Musk’s involvement reportedly sparked a furious reaction from Trump, who was ‘concerned’ as Tesla has a major presence in China.
The WSJ reported that Trump was ‘not happy’ when he found out Musk would be attending this briefing without telling him first and saw the tech mogul’s involvement as a potential conflict of interest.