Elon Musk goes from spotlight to backseat in Trump’s first 100 days
Over the course of President Trump’s first 100 days in office, Elon Musk has gone from a central figure to a more reduced role.
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries gave Elon Musk a round of applause as the billionaire Tesla CEO attended what might have been his final Cabinet meeting before he takes a backseat from the Department of Government Efficiency that he launched.
Musk’s appearance at the April 30 meeting came after the world’s richest man last week said he would begin allocating significantly less of his time to DOGE in May.
“They say I wear a lot of hats. And as you can see, it’s true. Even my hat has a hat,” Musk said as he wore a red “Gulf of America” cap on top of his Black MAGA hat.
He later appeared to bid farewell, calling it “an honor to work with your incredible Cabinet.”
“I just want to say, thank you everyone. It’s great to work with you,” Musk said.
Musk’s reduced role in the White House comes after his electric vehicle company Tesla has suffered the consequences of his increasingly polarizing brand as the president of the United States’ chief sidekick. Tesla posted earnings down 71% during the first quarter of 2025.
“He really has scarified a lot, been treated very unfairly,” Trump said after Musk addressed Trump’s full Cabinet at a meeting marking the president’s first 100 days in office. “But the vast majority of people in this country really respect and appreciate you, and this whole room can say that very strongly.”
It was the fifth Cabinet meeting Musk has attended since Trump’s return to the White House, but this one came after the Musk, the chief government disrupter since Jan. 20, has already taken a less visible role.
“You know, you’re invited to stay as long as you want, and some point he wants to get back home to his cars,” Trump said, prompting the applause from top officials in his administration.
Trump credited Musk ‒ whose group DOGE has steered efforts to cut federal workers and eliminate programs ‒ for “opening up a lot of eyes” on what can be done in government. “You’ve done a fantastic job,” Trump said, commending Musk for eliminating $150 billion in spending from the federal government.
“$160 billion,” Musk said, correcting Trump, although both figures are vastly short of the $1 trillion ‒ and originally $2 trillion ‒ savings goal Musk originally put forward.
Musk’s status as a “special government employees” is set to end at the end of May. The White House has said DOGE will continue until the middle of 2026.
While Musk has cited his need to return to Tesla, his step back from DOGE comes as he’s increasingly becoming a political liability for Trump, multiple polls have suggested. In addition, Musk has butted heads with multiple top administration officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and trade adviser Peter Navarro.
One wouldn’t recognize the friction caused by Musk’s presence in the White House, however, by watching the April 30 Cabinet meeting. Several Cabinet secretaries lauded the work of DOGE to reduce “waste and fraud” from their departments.
Bessent said DOGE has helped update a long-needed IT update at the Internal Revenue Services.
“Thanks to the young man sent over by DOGE, the update that began in 1990 ‒ which was begun before he was born ‒ is going to be finished during your term,” Bessent said. “Couldn’t make it up.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.