SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: The world’s richest man Elon Musk says he will cut back or completely stop his record-breaking political spending following a bruising start to 2025, in which he ploughed millions into a judicial election and shares in his car company Tesla sank.
Musk has also been markedly less visible in Washington and in communications from President Donald Trump and his team. His tenure as a “special government employee” leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is due to expire at the end of May.
An at-times combative Elon Musk appeared by video link at the Qatar Economic Forum.Credit: Bloomberg
The Tesla and SpaceX founder spent more than $US250 million ($390 million) supporting Trump in last year’s election. He sank another $20 million into supporting a Republican-backed judge for the Wisconsin Supreme Court this year, but the Democrat-backed candidate won.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk told the Qatar Economic Forum overnight in an awkward and often combative interview by video link from Austin, Texas. “I think I’ve done enough. If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I don’t currently see a reason.”
Tesla lost hundreds of billions of dollars in value this year as sales crashed and activists targeted his cars and dealerships. Vehicles were hit with graffiti, set on fire and otherwise vandalised, while some Tesla owners sold their cars or affixed stickers denouncing Musk.
Musk defended Tesla’s performance, saying sales had turned around – although Europe’s was still “weak” – and noting the company’s share price had recovered, and its market capitalisation was back above $US1 trillion.
Protesters at a Tesla Takedown rally in New York in March.Credit: Bloomberg
Asked about people putting bumper stickers on their Teslas declaring they bought it before “Elon was crazy”, Musk said: “There are also people buying it because Elon’s crazy, or however they may view it. Yes, we’ve lost some sales, perhaps, on the left, but we’ve gained them on the right.”
Musk was visibly shaken when discussing the activists’ campaign against him and his cars, saying they were “evil” and on the wrong side of history. Asked whether he took the attacks personally, he said: “Yes.”
But he said he would definitely still be chief executive of Tesla in five years’ time, unless he died.
Musk also defended DOGE’s work, but said it would be up to Congress whether the promised savings from his razor gang ever materialised.
Elon Musk joined President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East last week, and attended a state dinner at Qatar’s Lusail Palace.Credit: Getty Images
According to the DOGE website, it has identified savings of an estimated $US170 billion. But only $US71 billion is attributed to actual line items on the agency’s “wall of receipts”, which categorises the savings as contracts, grants or leases.
Musk said it was “absurd” to suggest the agency had underperformed. “Have we not made good progress given the amount of time?” he asked.
“The magnitude of the savings is proportionate to the support that we get from Congress and the executive branch of the government. We’re not the dictators, we are the advisers.”
As a special government employee, Musk’s employment is limited to 130 days, a period that would end in late May, although he could be assigned another role.
However, Trump has already said he expected Musk to return to running his companies, and would remain an adviser in a less formal and more distant capacity.
Many predicted a dramatic and public fallout between the two men, but that did not come to fruition. Instead, Musk has faded from prominence.
An analysis by Politico this week found Trump has ceased talking about Musk on his TruthSocial platform. The president’s weekly mentions of Musk peaked at 11 in February, but stopped entirely by April. Mentions of Musk in Trump’s fundraising appeals also ended, Politico reported.
However, Musk is still a presence in the president’s orbit; he attended Trump’s four-day trip to the Middle East last week – as did many senior business leaders in technology – and recent cabinet meetings.
He told the Qatari Economic Forum he would travel to Washington on Wednesday and have dinner with Trump, before returning to Silicon Valley. Musk said he was spending one to two days a week on government work.
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