Elon Musk, the world-renowned tech mogul and original head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has largely faced backlash and criticism since entering into politics this past election cycle.
That cycle was when Musk — a longtime Democrat — and his coffers chose to back the GOP ticket, which featured President Donald Trump.
Trump and Musk not only seemed to hit it off, but Trump appeared to create an entire government branch out of thin air for his new fiscal-minded friend.
Musk, tasked with finding and cutting excess government spending and waste through DOGE, wasted little time getting to work in his new political post.
Adhering to the philosophy that omelets can only be made by cracking eggs, Musk and DOGE unapologetically and swiftly took an ax to whatever bits of government fat they could trim.
His attitude and actions swiftly drew the ire and condemnation of Democrats.
Much to Musk’s chagrin, that deep disdain began to seep into the general public, as a number of the companies associated with him began taking (sometimes literal) hits.
Due to the highly polarizing political climate, Musk’s work with DOGE spawned backlash for companies like Tesla and SpaceX, which he owns.
That sort of deep unpopularity in a product will naturally affect stocks, and Musk’s cherished tech companies were no different.
Do you think Musk did a good job in his brief political stint?
As The Hill noted, Tesla stocks have dipped notably in the past few months. Since December, when DOGE first began to materialize, Tesla stocks had plummeted by up to 50 percent.
Fast forward to today, and the stocks are down just 24 percent since December. That may not seem like the best news, but it’s a marked improvement over 50 percent and includes a recent 7 percent bump on Monday.
In April, Musk — clearly content with the groundwork he had laid at DOGE — announced that he was going to be taking a step back from politics soon.
Rumors about such a move for Musk had been swirling for some time, but April was the first time the tech mogul had publicly broached the topic.
Now, about a month later, Musk has given the biggest indication yet that his political career may truly be over.
During an economic forum, Musk revealed that, while things could always change, for now, he sees no major issues that would require his deep pockets, and is thus going to significantly scale back how much money he donates to political causes.
Combine all of that, and it appears that many of the people who were mad at Musk and DOGE are a little less mad at the former, now that he’s distancing himself from the latter.
As Musk continues to bask in the good news that his Tesla stocks are continuing to recover from a period of tumult, Musk’s SpaceX has been as busy as it’s ever been.
On Tuesday, the same day The Hill’s report came out, SpaceX successfully had a ship lift off:
Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/aXAwLkRbuK
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 27, 2025
Despite the undulating nature of taxes, Forbes noted that Elon Musk is still the world’s richest man, with a net worth of over $430 billion.
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