Elon Musk, the former head of DOGE, publicly bowed out of the Trump administration on Wednesday after clashing with the president about the “massive spending” goals laid out in the president’s so-called “big, beautiful bill.”
“To some extent, he was a victim of his own expectation-setting,” the New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer said Thursday on MSNBC.
“I think Elon might have been judged more favorably if he had had smaller ambitions,” Schleifer, who reports on billionaires, continued. “He was talking about cutting $2 trillion from the yearly budget. What if he had just said in November 2024 that he only wanted to cut $100 billion? Then we might be sitting here saying, ‘Well, Musk cut $150 billion — good job.’”
Watch the full MSNBC segment in the video below:
Schleifer added that Musk’s stated intention to refocus on his own companies, Tesla and SpaceX, is a handy exit strategy. “He clearly is at least attuned to the idea that he’s been overextended on his political adventures, and he wants to let shareholders and investors know that he is back in charge at the companies,” he said.
However, Schleifer didn’t think that Musk bowing out means he’s completely out of the picture in the Trump administration.
“From our reporting, Trump and Musk still have a good relationship. They still talk a lot. I wouldn’t discount the possibility that Musk remains more involved than we think he’s going to be … I think Trump will still call Elon Musk — probably a lot — over the next couple of years,” he said.
Despite Musk’s departure, the job-slashing he’s inflicted through DOGE will continue without him. Karoline Leavittt told reporters on Thursday, “Surely, the mission of DOGE will continue” and that every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself” are “wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government.”
