Elon Musk leaves DOGE as Trump's budget slashes support for electric vehicles (EVs), signaling tough times ahead for Musk and Tesla.

Musk’s Washington Bromance Has Officially Gone Cold

It started with chainsaws and Cabinet meetings. It ended with budget cuts, black eyes, and a battered bottom line. After months of cozying up to Donald Trump’s administration—spending nearly $300 million to elect Trump and his GOP allies—Elon Musk has finally distanced himself from Washington’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its wrecking-ball agenda.

It's not the end, but it is an end.

Musk’s brainchild, DOGE, was meant to slash government bloat. But the four-month rampage through federal departments—cutting over 250,000 jobs and gutting key agencies like the EPA and NOAA—sparked public backlash and legal chaos.

Tesla, meanwhile, became collateral damage. Profits nosedived 71%, and Musk’s personal net worth cratered by $100 billion. Even his beloved DOGE became a political scapegoat. “DOGE became the whipping boy for everything,” Musk lamented in a recent CBS News interview.

But the final straw wasn’t Social Security outrage or vandalized Musk statues. It was Trump’s latest budget—a direct attack on Tesla’s clean energy business.

The Budget That Broke the Bromance

Trump’s new budget, recently passed by the GOP-controlled Congress, axes the very incentives that fueled Tesla’s US success. Gone is the $7,500 federal EV tax credit—an essential driver of Tesla demand. Also gone: the 30% tax credits for battery storage and solar power that buoyed Tesla’s energy division.

In classic understatement, Musk’s team issued a statement urging a phased rollback rather than an outright repeal: “Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America’s energy independence and the reliability of our grid.”

Bottom line: the US Tesla’s most promising market, is now becoming hostile territory for Musk’s businesses. Europe is lost. Canada’s market has cooled. And Tesla faces ferocious competition in China.

When “Move Fast and Break Things” Breaks You

In hindsight, Musk’s Washington gambit was high-risk from the start. He bet that backing Trump would defang regulators and grant him political cover. In that sense, it worked—temporarily. But the cost has been steep.

The DOGE cuts turned Musk into a national punching bag. Lawsuits, mandatory rehirings, and violent threats followed. Meanwhile, the GOP’s war on clean energy directly undermined Tesla’s core products.

Even Musk now admits things got out of hand. But, “I don’t wanna take responsibility for everything this administration’s doing,” he says.

That attempt at distancing didn’t sit well in TrumpWorld. After Musk publicly criticized the budget on CBS, the White House ice-out was swift. By Friday, Musk officially exited DOGE, ending what was supposed to be a longer-term advisory role.

Trump, ever the showman, tried to spin it at a media event: “Elon’s really not leaving. He’s gonna be back and forth.” But the writing is on the wall. Musk is retreating to focus on his businesses: SpaceX, Tesla, X, Neuralink, Starlink, and others.

Can Musk Repair the Damage?

Musk’s pivot comes late. Tesla’s energy storage unit—its lone growth bright spot—is now kneecapped by the loss of solar and battery credits. Its EV margins will shrink as US demand weakens without incentives. And with Chinese competitors surging, Musk faces an uphill battle to stabilize Tesla.

His signature move-fast-and-break-things ethos has backfired spectacularly in Washington. As Electrek’s Fred Lambert dryly noted: “Musk’s backing of Trump hasn’t achieved anything meaningful toward his stated goals.”

For now, as per the CBS interview, Musk insists DOGE will “continue as a way of life”—whatever that means. But his focus has clearly shifted.

With Tesla’s US market on the chopping block and Musk’s DC honeymoon over, the next chapter for the self-styled “first buddy” promises to be… well, interesting, if nothing else.

As Musk himself put it before watching SpaceX’s latest rocket attempt: “I can’t guarantee success, but I can guarantee excitement.”

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