Elon Musk often warns that America is on the brink of apocalyptic collapse, declaring that his avalanche of spending to elect Republicans and his role in the Trump administration are essential to steering, as he said in late March, “the course of Western civilization.”
But lately he seems to be having a change of heart.
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest person, has signaled that he wants to turn back to his business empire. He has made himself increasingly scarce in Washington. And months after he served as the 2024 election’s biggest donor, he said on Tuesday that he planned to spend “a lot less” in future elections.
It was the latest sign that Mr. Musk is fading into the background of American politics — at least for now.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” the tech titan said as he appeared virtually for a combative interview with Bloomberg News at the Qatar Economic Forum. “I think I’ve done enough.”
Asked if his thinking stemmed from the “blowback” he had faced for helping to guide the Trump administration — a role that has created wide-ranging conflicts of interest — Mr. Musk dodged the question and left the door open for future outlays on elections.
“If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” he said. “But I don’t currently see a reason.”
The comments were Mr. Musk’s most explicit yet about whether he wants to keep using his hundreds of billions to try to align the country with his right-wing worldview.
After the last election, in which he disclosed over $290 million in federal spending, he was widely expected to remain a powerful financial player in Republican politics. On election night, as he flew to Mar-a-Lago, he vowed to play a big role in not only the 2026 midterm contests but also “intermediate elections.” He signaled to Mr. Trump’s advisers that he wanted to donate about $100 million to pro-Trump groups before the midterms. Along with an allied group, he spent roughly $25 million on a major Wisconsin Supreme Court race to back a conservative candidate who lost badly.
But the Wisconsin race may have been a turning point: Mr. Musk appears aware that his public presence in the race backfired, according to a person who has spoken with him. He has said almost nothing — in interviews or on X — about the defeat of Brad Schimel, his chosen candidate in the State Supreme Court contest.
Public polling shows that Mr. Musk has grown unpopular with voters, and Democrats have rushed to use him as a political foil while Republicans have begun to keep some distance from him.
But whether Mr. Musk will ultimately cut off all or most of his political donations remains unclear. One possibility is that he returns to a tactic that he used before the 2024 election: funneling money into politics through nonprofit groups, which are not required to disclose their donors.
Mr. Musk has not left Mr. Trump’s side completely: He accompanied the president last week for part of a Middle East trip that raised new questions about how the tech billionaire, his family and his companies are benefiting financially from his government role.
But in general, Mr. Musk has been retreating from Washington, where he became a constant presence in the first months of the Trump administration as he steered an ambitious, controversial effort to cut government spending sharply, called the Department of Government Efficiency. On Tuesday, Mr. Musk defended the effort, which is widely seen as falling short of his wild projections as it overstates its progress.
Mr. Musk, an all-hours-of-the-night poster on X, his social media platform, has been weighing in less there about Mr. Trump, and generally writing far fewer posts in recent weeks. And while he still engages with political content, a majority of his posts have shifted from promotion of the president to ruminations and predictions about his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI.
Indeed, the shift appears prompted by the renewed financial pressures that Mr. Musk is facing from his businesses.
His support for Mr. Trump has led Tesla’s sales to plummet and has caused strife within his companies, as some employees have taken the rare step of speaking out against their chief executive’s political activity. Last month, a group of Tesla employees published an open letter calling for his removal as the company’s leader, noting that “the damage done to Elon’s personal brand is now irreversible.”
Matthew LaBrot, a program manager who worked at Tesla for more than five years, said he had been fired for organizing the letter, while an X account associated with the employee movement was also suspended.
“I understood the risks, and I spoke out anyway,” Mr. LaBrot wrote on LinkedIn. “Because I believe in Tesla’s mission more than I fear its CEO.”
After the sharp drop in profit at Tesla, Mr. Musk told Wall Street analysts last month that he planned to spend less time on politics and more on his companies.
He did say on Tuesday, however, that he planned to be in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday — including for a dinner with Mr. Trump.
Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering billionaires and their impact on the world.
Ryan Mac covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry.
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