Elon Musk isn’t going anywhere.
In a bizarre press conference in which he stood next to Donald Trump sporting a black eye while the treasury secretary he reportedly once “shoved” watched on, Musk said he would continue to be the president’s unofficial slasher-in-chief even though his DOGE gig was ending.
“I’ll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and adviser to the president,” he said, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words “The Dogefather”.
“I hope so,” said Trump.
“And I’ll continue to support the DOGE team. And we are relentlessly pursuing a trillion dollars in waste and fraud reductions, which will benefit the American taxpayer,” Musk added.
The odd couple then swapped compliments about the new gilded decor in the Oval Office.
The White House appearance was designed to mark Musk’s departure from DOGE due to federal rules only allowing his special government appointment to last for 134 days.
The shift comes after a tumultuous few months in which the Tesla chief upended the federal bureaucracy, watched his stocks plummet, and ultimately failed to deliver the $1 trillion in savings he claimed DOGE would achieve.
He also reportedly brawled with Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who, according to Steve Bannon, quoted in the Daily Mail, Musk once “shoved” during a heated argument over his failed bid to find $1 trillion in savings.
Bessent was in the room along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who once desperately wanted the Treasury Secretary post, as Trump praised Musk as “one of the greatest business leaders the world has ever produced.”
“Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping consequential government reform program in generations,” Trump said.
“The kind of things that he’s found and his people have found… are pretty unavailable. The numbers that we’re talking about are substantial, but they’re going to be more substantial in time.
“With the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon’s delivered a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington.”
Musk staying on in an unofficial capacity is likely to hit a nerve with critics, including some Republicans who were miffed this week when the billionaire expressed disappointment with the Trump-backed “big beautiful bill.”
But speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Musk said DOGE was “like Buddhism – it’s like a way of life, and I’m confident that over time we will see a trillion dollars of savings in waste, fraud, and reduction.”
Musk’s departure from DOGE leaves behind a legacy that is as divisive as the man himself.
Supporters such Shark Tank entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary credited him with overhauling a stagnant bureaucracy and changing how Americans think about the US government.
But he added that Musk also learnt the hard way about the challenges of Washington.
“You don’t understand Washington until you go there. It is a very nasty, nasty place,” he said.
“Anybody that exposes themselves that close to the sun is going to burn some feathers, and I think he experienced that and realized, he did some great things, but there’s other great things that he’s doing.”
Critics, on the other hand, say Musk left a trail of dysfunction and destruction.
His erratic social media posts – such as his early threat that federal workers would be required to email five achievements every week or face the sack – confused and frustrated civil servants.
About 260,000 federal workers have been fired, taken buyouts, or retired early since his DOGE appointment.
As one outraged worker who had spent more than 30 years with the Agriculture Department told the Daily Beast: “My entire career was tossed away because these MF’s think federal employees don’t deserve their jobs.”
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