Elon Musk Is Leaving the White House after a Tumultuous Four-Month Tenure

The first 100 days of the Trump administration were defined, at least in part, by the constant presence of Elon Musk. After becoming active in Trump's campaign in the months leading up to the election, Musk's DOGE entered the administration by running roughshod over a wide variety of federal agencies.

Now, just a few months later, he's leaving the administration behind, which has led some to wonder why he seems to be putting politics behind him after such a short stint. Here's what we know.

Musk's public explanation for his decision to leave the government is that he is a Special Government Employee, and as such, his contract with the government is set to expire after 130 days.

"As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” he wrote on X.

Although that stated explanation makes some sense, it's not the case that Musk's time in the White House was characterized by the careful following of existing rules and procedures.

It seems possible, then, that Musk's decision to step away from the administration, and from politics more generally, has more to do with the resistance he's met both inside the government and from the public more generally.

Although DOGE was effective at achieving many of its goals, the organization did not fundamentally change the way government operated as much as Musk once suggested it could, probably in part because running the federal government isn't actually all that much like running X. It's also possible that, after an election loss in Wisconsin where Musk was heavily invested, he realized that his presence in politics was not always a net positive for his preferred candidates.

Perhaps the most important unstated reason for Musk's departure, though, might be the incredible dip in popularity that Tesla has faced since he entered government. There have been protests at Tesla locations around the country, and Tesla stock has dipped 11 percent since the beginning of the year.

That kind of financial hit does real damage to Musk's overall net worth, and his decision to step away from politics might be explained by that.

In an interview with Bloomberg (per NBC), Musk also said that he's planning to do less political spending moving forward. "I think in terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future," he explained. "I think I've done enough."

He did add, though, that if he saw a reason to do more political spending in the future, he would.

For now, then, Musk is stepping away from politics, probably in part because he wants to make sure he doesn't lose all his money. He might have thought that DOGE would be wildly popular, but that has turned out not to be the case. For now, then, Trump will have to continue governing without the world's richest man right by his side.