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.
"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.
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.