President Trump Talks ‘The End’: Elon Musk’s 130-Day Deadline Counting Down?

According to USA Today, billionaire Musk’s sphere of influence is much wider than DOGE. Besides President Trump, Musk has become the most prominent face of the current US administration.

US President Donald Trump said on April 1 that he wants to keep Elon Musk in the White House as long as he is willing to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but suggested that the tech billionaire’s time may be coming to an end, USA Today reported.

“I think he’s fantastic, but I also think he’s got to run a big company,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on April 1 before signing an executive order targeting ticket scalping at live events. “And at some point, he’ll be back. He wants to be.”

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his son are seen in the Oval Office of the White House as US President Donald Trump signs executive orders on February 11, 2025. Photo: USA Today

According to USA Today, Elon Musk – CEO of Tesla and SpaceX – is working in the Trump administration as a “special government employee”, a title given to US federal government employees who work 130 days or less in a calendar year. That means Musk’s term will end at the end of May 2025 if nothing changes.

“I want to keep him as long as possible,” Mr Trump told reporters. “He’s a very talented person. You know, I like smart people. And he’s very smart, and he’s done a great job.”

Divisive political figure

As the leader of DOGE, Musk has led the Trump administration’s efforts to scrap spending plans approved by Congress and lay off tens of thousands of federal workers in an effort to dramatically shrink the U.S. government, USA Today reported.

Democrats and other critics say Musk’s leadership role in the White House has given the world’s richest man dangerous access to policy decisions, creating various conflicts of interest given Musk’s SpaceX has billion-dollar contracts with the federal government.

According to USA Today, billionaire Musk’s sphere of influence is much broader than DOGE. Alongside President Trump, Musk has become the most prominent face of the current US administration, using his massive social media following to outline White House policy, attending Cabinet meetings, facilitating the return of two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS), and last weekend traveling to Wisconsin to campaign for a Trump-backed candidate in the state’s Supreme Court election.

According to the Day 1 executive order signed by President Trump, DOGE will cease operations after 18 months on July 4, 2026, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.

President Trump also said his Cabinet secretaries will begin taking on the role of cutting DOGE’s costs after Musk leaves and DOGE closes.

“I think at some point it will end, but they’re very well trained,” Trump said of his secretaries. “There will come a time when secretaries can do the job and do it very well with a scalpel, as we say. And you know, that’s what we want.”

Musk has contributed nearly $300 million to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Musk has also signaled plans to pump another $100 million into a Trump-controlled political group, according to the New York Times.

According to a national poll conducted by NBC News in March, 51% of Americans have a negative view of tech mogul Musk, while only 39% of respondents have a positive view.

Billionaire Elon Musk at a Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 24, 2025. Photo: AFP

As Musk has become a divisive political figure, Tesla’s sales and stock have plummeted, and Tesla facilities have been the target of vandalism and violence in what US authorities have called “domestic terrorism,” according to USA Today.

“He’s an American patriot, but the way he’s been treated with Tesla is horrible,” President Trump said.

In an interview with Fox News last week, billionaire Musk said “I see disadvantages to being in government, not advantages” and “companies are suffering because I’m in government”.

Asked about the upcoming end of his 130-day term as a “special government employee,” Musk said he believes he will have done most of the work to achieve his goal of cutting $1 trillion from the federal government.

“I think we’ll get most of the work done to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion in that time frame,” Musk said.