Elon Musk ‘not really leaving’, says Trump at farewell ceremony
Tesla chief Elon Musk has stepped down from his post as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Donald Trump officially bid him farewell in a lavish ceremony in the Oval Office on Friday (May 30). However, despite Musk’s departure, he indirectly assured that he would remain involved in the Trump administration.
According to the BBC report, a joint press conference was held in the Oval Office on Friday to mark Elon Musk’s departure.
At the time, US President Donald Trump supported the work of DOGE – and promised that it would continue without Musk.
The US president said that Musk is not really leaving, and will continue to work directly and indirectly in the White House. Musk will always be with the administration. Musk also said on the day that he will be indirectly involved in further changes in the government sector.
According to media reports, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Musk, has been waging an ideological war on various federal agencies. Millions of workers have been laid off by young “tech bros.” Musk has been at the center of the Trump administration’s discussions for the past four months, cutting thousands of jobs and cutting many government projects. Although the promised savings have not been fully realized,
The department has also shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), resulting in massive cuts to foreign aid. Critics say this will hurt the world’s poorest people and benefit America’s rivals.
In reality, however, Doge’s success has not come close to Musk’s initial rhetoric. He entered a conservative event in Washington on a chainsaw, saying that cutting $2 trillion would be easy.
Trump has also boasted that Doge is “cutting waste” and regularly recited a “long list” of corruption he discovered in Musk’s team. But according to the independently run website Doge Tracker, only $12 billion has been saved so far. And The Atlantic magazine says the actual savings are even lower, at just $2 billion.
