At first, Donald Trump and Elon Musk received alongside nice. "He's a very unbelievable man," Trump stated at a marketing campaign rally final October, "and I do not say that that always."Musk spent $288 million to elect Trump and his allies. The president invited Musk into the Oval Workplace and Cupboard conferences. Musk known as himself …
At first, Donald Trump and Elon Musk received alongside nice. “He’s a very unbelievable man,” Trump stated at a marketing campaign rally final October, “and I do not say that that always.”
Musk spent $288 million to elect Trump and his allies.
The president invited Musk into the Oval Workplace and Cupboard conferences. Musk known as himself “first buddy.”
Mr. Trump welcomed Musk’s concept to create a Division of Authorities Effectivity. [“You gotta give him credit!” the president told reporters.] Musk demonstrated his targets for DOGE by wielding a chainsaw at a February assembly of the Conservative Political Motion Convention. “That is the chainsaw for paperwork!” he bellowed.
SAUL LOEB/AFP through Getty Photographs 
In 4 months, DOGE took the chainsaw to each federal division: 250,000 staff had been fired or purchased out; Musk even slashed grants and staffing at environmental companies, just like the EPA and NOAA, after a long time of warning in regards to the dangers of local weather change.
However Musk did not benefit from the pushback. There have been acts of violence; demise threats; lawsuits; necessary re-hirings; and shouting matches with Cupboard members.
Tesla income plummeted by 71%—and Musk’s web value dropped by $100 billion.
Final month, Musk lastly left Washington, however nonetheless meant to work on DOGE a day or two per week. And this previous Tuesday, he provided “Sunday Morning” an interview at SpaceX’s headquarters close to Brownsville, on the southern tip of Texas.
We knew we had been in the precise neighborhood once we noticed an enormous bust of Musk, put in by his admirers—and vandalized by his critics.
CBS Information 
However the interview did not get off to a clean begin.
I requested, “I observed that your whole companies contain a variety of parts, a variety of elements. Do the tariffs and the commerce wars have an effect on any of this?”
“You already know, tariffs all the time have an effect on issues just a little bit,” Musk replied.
“I am questioning what your thought is on the ban on overseas college students, the proposal. I imply, you had been a kind of children, proper?”
“Yeah. I imply, I believe we wanna persist with, you recognize, the topic of the day, which is, like, spaceships, versus, you recognize, presidential coverage,” Musk stated.
“Oh, okay,” I stated. “I used to be instructed something is sweet, however…”
“No, effectively—no,” Musk replied.
CBS Information 
However Musk was keen to speak in regards to the DOGE firestorm. I requested him, “You’ve got spoken about how a lot of a grind and a stress it was on you, and you recognize, Tesla’s repute took a success, your repute took a success. Persons are very upset about [effects on] Social Safety, and nationwide parks, and air visitors, and meals security, and most cancers analysis, Alzheimer’s analysis. Now that you have had an opportunity to take a look at it, would possibly there have been a unique strategy?”
Musk stated, “Yeah, I believe … what was beginning to occur was that, like, it is a bit unfair as a result of, like, DOGE grew to become the whipping boy for every little thing. So, if there was some reduce, actual or imagined, everybody would blame DOGE. I’ve had folks suppose that, like, someway DOGE is gonna cease them from getting their Social Safety verify, which is totally unfaithful.”
I requested, “I used to be simply interested by the, you recognize, ‘transfer quick and break issues,’ you recognize, earlier than you actually perceive what the company does?”
“Yeah, I imply, I suppose a part of it’s, like, is it will depend on the place you are coming from,” Musk stated. “I am like a proponent of smaller authorities, not larger authorities. So, now if any person’s a proponent of, you recognize, extra authorities packages and greater authorities, they usually see, ‘Hey, DOGE is slicing all these authorities packages,’ then they’re going to be essentially against that as a result of they only suppose the federal government ought to do extra issues. That is only a basic, I suppose, ideological opinion.
“However my frank opinion of the federal government is that, like, the federal government is simply, like, the DMV that received large, okay? So, if you say it like, ‘Let’s have the federal government do one thing,’ you need to suppose, ‘Would you like the DMV to do it?'”
After which, Musk began speaking in regards to the Trump administration, with out even being requested about Trump. “And you recognize, it isn’t like I agree with every little thing the administration does,” stated Musk. “So it is like, I imply, I agree with a lot of what the administration does. However we have now variations of opinion. You already know, there are issues that I do not totally agree with. Nevertheless it’s tough for me to convey that up in an interview as a result of then it creates a bone of competition. So then, I am just a little caught in a bind, the place I am like, effectively, I do not wanna, you recognize, communicate up towards the administration, however I additionally do not wanna take duty for every little thing this administration’s doing.”
In Washington, federal staff say that DOGE has left the federal government’s operations in disarray. And worst of all, it might need all been for nothing. Musk claims to have saved the federal government $175 billion thus far (nowhere near his authentic goal of $2 trillion, and even his revised goal of $1 trillion).
And that was earlier than the president’s new spending invoice handed the Home. Based on the Congressional Price range Workplace, the president’s proposed price range will add $3.8 trillion to our debt over the subsequent ten years. It is now being debated within the Senate.
Musk stated, “I used to be, like, dissatisfied to see the huge spending invoice, frankly, which will increase the price range deficit, would not lower it, and undermines the work that the DOGE staff is doing.”
I stated, “I really thought that, when this ‘large, stunning invoice’ got here alongside, it would be like, every little thing he is performed on DOGE will get worn out within the first yr.”
“I believe a invoice might be large or it may be stunning,” Musk laughed. “However I do not know if it may very well be each. My private opinion.”
And right here is the place the story will get just a little sophisticated.
On Tuesday, proper after our interview, CBS Information launched a clip of it to advertise this very report. It was that half, the place Musk criticizes Trump’s spending invoice, and his remarks grew to become information. It went all the best way to the White Home, the place the president was requested about Musk’s criticism of the invoice. Inside 24 hours, Musk introduced that his time within the Trump administration was formally over. Out of DOGE, out of presidency.
Musk stated that the explanation was that his restricted 130-day stint as advisor was ending. However till that second, he’d been saying that he nonetheless meant to work on DOGE part-time. “Nicely, DOGE is gonna proceed, simply as a lifestyle,” he instructed us. “I’ll have some participation in that, however as I’ve stated publicly, my focus must be on the businesses at this level.”
Reality is, the Trump-Musk relationship had already appeared to be cooling. The president used to publish about Musk about six instances per week. However by April, he’d stopped mentioning Musk altogether.
Nonetheless, on Friday, they held a media occasion on the White Home to substantiate their mutual admiration—and to go away the door open for future collaboration. “Elon’s actually not leaving,” Mr. Trump stated. “He is gonna be forwards and backwards, I believe, I’ve a sense.”
Musk added, “The DOGE staff is doing an unbelievable job. They are going to proceed doing an unbelievable job, and I’ll proceed to be visiting right here and be a good friend and advisor to the president.”
Evan Vucci / AP 
Musk is perhaps the primary to confess that his DOGE experiment gave him a black eye—just like the precise black eye he had on Friday, which he says he received from his five-year-old son … or the matching one on that statue.
At the very least for now, Musk says that his focus might be operating his enterprise ventures: Tesla, Starlink, X, xAI, Neuralink, Optimus robots, the Boring Firm, and SpaceX.
I requested, “Are your whole companies associated indirectly?”
“I suppose you may consider the companies as issues that enhance the possible trajectory of civilization,” Musk replied. “So you recognize, for making life multi-planetary or extending life to Mars, the concept there may be to make sure the long-term survival of life and consciousness as we all know it.”
After our interview Tuesday, we had been invited to witness the ninth launch of his Starship, the largest rocket ever constructed. The 2 earlier Starship assessments resulted in explosions – or, as SpaceX places it, “fast unscheduled disassemblies.” So, all eyes had been on Check Launch 9 to see if a Starship might return to Earth in a single piece.
As Musk left our interview to look at the launch, he stated one thing that might sum up all his enterprises: “I can not assure success, however I can assure pleasure.”
In the long run, Elon Musk’s large rocket spun uncontrolled. It didn’t survive re-entry.
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Story produced by Dustin Stephens. Editor: Carol Ross.
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