Last week, the Beltway media was trying to make “Elon Musk disappears from Trump World” into a larger narrative. I have no idea why, because they looked like idiots when Musk was in the Oval Office during Donald Trump’s bonkers “white genocide” meltdown in front of South Africa’s Pres. Ramaphosa. Musk did that – Musk was the architect of that meltdown, which shows that Musk still has a great deal of influence on the senile white nationalist in charge of the country. But it’s time for another round of “no really, Elon Musk is leaving Washington!” This time it comes from the proverbial horse’s mouth – Musk claims that he’s stepping down from DOGE to spend more time with his companies. The NY Times frames it as part of a larger falling out between Musk and Trump. I disagree.

Elon Musk took a swipe at President Trump’s signature domestic policy legislation, saying it would add to the national deficit. He complained to administration officials about a lucrative deal that went to a rival company to build an artificial-intelligence data center in the Middle East. And he has yet to make good on a $100 million pledge to Trump’s political operation.

Mr. Musk, who once called himself the president’s “first buddy,” is now operating with some distance from Mr. Trump as he says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies. Mr. Musk remains on good terms with Mr. Trump, according to White House officials. But he has also made it clear that he is disillusioned with Washington and frustrated with the obstacles he encountered as he upended the federal bureaucracy, raising questions about the strength of the alliance between the president and the world’s richest man.

Mr. Musk was the biggest known political spender in the 2024 election, and he told Mr. Trump’s advisers this year that he would give $100 million to groups controlled by the president’s team before the 2026 midterms. As of this week, the money hasn’t come in yet, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the behind-the-scenes dynamic.

Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. In a post on X, his social media site, on Wednesday night, he officially confirmed for the first time that his stint as a government employee was coming to an end and thanked Mr. Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.”

“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” he added, referring to his Department of Government Efficiency team.

[From The NY Times]

The thing is, I simply don’t believe that Musk and Trump have fallen out. I think Musk has alienated nearly everyone around Trump, absolutely. I think Congressional Republicans despise Musk, for sure. But I think something else is happening – Musk still has so much control over Trump, but so does everyone else around Trump, and that’s what Elon hates. Elon thought he would be Trump’s most important advisor/handler, and that hasn’t been the case. Plus, I think Musk is just bored and in over his head – in Washington, people think he’s an idiot (because he is). His companies have been significantly damaged by everything he’s done in DC too.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.