The article, headlined “The Decline and Fall of Elon Musk” mentions an unverified incident, a dramatic confrontation between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent within the White Home:
“F*** you! F*** you! F*** you! Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was shouting at Elon Musk within the halls of the West Wing final month, loud sufficient for Donald Trump to listen to and in a language that he may definitely perceive,” the Atlantic article narrated. “Bessent and Musk have been combating over which ones ought to select the following IRS chief—and, implicitly, over Musk’s bureaucracy-be-damned campaign. With out securing the Treasury chief’s sign-off, Musk had pushed by his personal decide for the job. Bessent was, fairly clearly, not having it. The struggle had began outdoors the Oval Workplace; it continued previous the Roosevelt Room and towards the chief of workers’s workplace, after which barreled across the nook to the nationwide safety adviser’s warren. Musk accused Bessent of getting run two failed hedge funds. “I can’t hear you,” he advised Bessent as they argued, their faces simply inches aside. “Say it louder.”
Dismissing this account, Musk wrote on X, “They’re the previous, the legacy media fading into obscurity.” Conservative media persona Meghan Kelly got here out in Musk’s help, writing: “If his life is in ‘decline,’ signal me up for decline.”
Musk’s practically four-month whirlwind tenure within the Trump administration has drawn to a detailed as he shifts his focus to his companies, mainly Tesla which has hit a tough patch.
Elon Musk’s fall from the Trump administration
After Donald Trump gained the 2024 election, he sought to convey high-profile enterprise leaders into the fold to bolster the picture of a revitalized, results-driven authorities. Musk, the maverick entrepreneur who had supported Trump throughout his marketing campaign, was tapped to guide DOGE — a symbolic nod to his internet-savvy picture. For Trump, Musk’s presence lent a veneer of innovation and private-sector credibility. For Musk, it was a chance to reshape federal forms, promote superior automation, and probably create favorable regulatory situations for his corporations.The early months have been stuffed with headlines, daring guarantees, and futuristic proposals — digitizing public companies, decreasing bureaucratic waste, and making use of Tesla-style effectivity to all the things. However behind the scenes, frictions started rising.Musk’s ideological ambiguity quickly turned a legal responsibility. Whereas his libertarian-technocratic leanings initially aligned with Trump’s deregulation-first agenda, their variations widened. Musk’s more and more public clashes with social activists and imprecise statements on points like free speech, trans rights, and company variety alienated elements of the administration keen to take care of a rigorously managed populist picture.
Federal departments resisted Musk’s technocratic interventions. Profession officers, unions, and even GOP lawmakers complained that his proposals lacked feasibility and sensitivity to institutional norms. Inside months, Musk had develop into extra of a legal responsibility than an asset. His affect started to wane, his entry curtailed, and his DOGE proposals sidelined in favor of extra conventional conservative priorities.
Trump used to submit lots about Elon Musk on Reality Social, about 4 instances per week in Feb and March, in accordance with a Politico report however now Trump and Musk each have stopped speaking about one another publicly. Musk had develop into unpopular with the general public, primarily based on polls and the way folks reacted to him through the Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom race. The report cited a GOP insider saying, “He’s completed, achieved, gone. He polls terribly. Folks hate him.”
As Musk’s political stature dimmed, his enterprise empire started to falter. Amid rising EV competitors and controversial public conduct, Tesla’s market share and model enchantment declined. The corporate misplaced floor in Europe and China, whereas US gross sales stagnated underneath the shadow of Musk’s polarizing persona. Delays in federal approvals for Starlink expansions and area launches — some allegedly political — added to the pressures. The message was clear: Musk’s companies wanted his full consideration. Shareholders in Tesla and SpaceX started pushing for his return, citing lack of route, public backlash, and missed product targets. Analysts started asking if Musk had overextended himself, each politically and professionally.
Whereas Musk’s exit has been framed as voluntary, it does not look like so. Musk had successfully been sidelined a lot earlier, excluded from core coverage choices and relegated to symbolic roles. DOGE continued in title solely, stripped of affect and ambition. Forward of the 2026 midterms, Trump would need his authorities to retain common help which was eroding because of Musk’s radical cuts in workers and spending.
Musk, who spent practically $300 million to again Trump’s presidential marketing campaign and different Republicans final yr, stated on Tuesday he’ll minimize his political spending considerably. Musk has stated he’ll cut back his work for Trump and deal with Tesla. “My tough plan on the White Home is to be there for a pair days, each few weeks, and to be useful the place I will be useful,” he stated.
What awaits Musk at enterprise?
Musk’s foray into authorities was daring, disruptive, and finally unsuccessful. But, in stepping away from politics, he might have rediscovered his core identification: not as a political determine however as an innovator. With Tesla going through headwinds, SpaceX eyeing new frontiers, and X needing a imaginative and prescient past controversy, Musk’s true check lies not within the halls of energy, however within the factories, labs and launch pads that first made him a family title.
Whether or not this return is a reinvention or a final stand stays to be seen. Longtime Tesla Bull and wealth supervisor Ross Gerber offered greater than 26,000 of his Tesla shares within the first quarter of 2025. This accounts for roughly 10% of his wealth administration agency – Gerber-Kawasaki, says a Enterprise Insider report. Gerber has initially predicted that Tesla’s inventory may drop by as a lot as 50 p.c — a forecast that proved correct after Tesla shares drop by as much as 43% following the backlash to Musk’s controversial Nazi-style salute throughout Trump’s inauguration. Though Tesla’s inventory has recovered since then, Gerber advised the publication that he doesn’t consider the rebound will probably be sustainable. “We definitely have not modified our view the place we might begin [buying Tesla stock] once more,” he stated. Gerber stated that there’s not loads of hope for the EV firm, until it could massively flip issues round with the Robotaxi service launch in Austin subsequent month. “This might be a particularly tough time for them,” he stated, including “if they do not pull off or not less than persuade people who they’ve an actual robotaxi enterprise on the best way.”
“I believe the following six months will actually be make or break for them,” Gerber stated, “and we’ll see how they do.” Gerber’s remarks come days after Musk reaffirmed his dedication to Tesla, stating that he’ll proceed to be the corporate’s CEO for the following 5 years.
Tesla is ready to start a check of its long-promised robotaxi service on schedule in Austin, Texas, by the tip of June, Musk stated on Tuesday, at the same time as the corporate faces security questions from a US regulator. Tesla will roll out about 10 self-driving vehicles in some elements of town, and scale as much as a few thousand inside just a few months, Musk advised CNBC in an interview. A profitable robotaxi trial is essential for Tesla as Musk has shifted the corporate’s focus away from constructing a brand new, cheaper EV platform to launching the robotaxi service and its Optimus humanoid robots. A lot of Tesla’s valuation hangs on that guess.
In the meantime, Chinese language automaker BYD offered extra electrical autos in Europe than Tesla for the primary time, in accordance with a report by JATO Dynamics, as an growing old mannequin lineup and Musk’s politics harm demand for Tesla’s vehicles. Tesla reported its first drop in annual deliveries final yr, and analysts count on one other fall this yr after a 13% decline within the first quarter. Musk stated earlier this week that Tesla had already rotated gross sales, and demand was sturdy in areas aside from Europe.
Musk stated that he expects tons of of hundreds of self-driving Teslas will probably be on the street requiring no human intervention by the tip of subsequent yr and that he’s dedicated to staying as CEO of the corporate for not less than one other 5 years. He additionally stated in a pair of interviews on Tuesday that he has no regrets about main the DOGE underneath the Trump administration. He downplayed any injury to the Tesla model from that function, saying demand for Teslas has skilled a “main rebound.”
After a steep fall this yr, Tesla inventory is up greater than 50% in little over a month as buyers have cheered Musk’s resolution to cut back his time in Washington and spend extra time operating the corporate.
“We’re sturdy in all places else [except Europe]. So gross sales are… doing effectively at this level,” Musk advised the 2025 Qatar Financial Discussion board just a few days in the past. “We’re now again over a trillion {dollars} in market cap, so clearly, the market is conscious of the state of affairs, so it is already rotated.”
(With inputs from companies)
