Elon Musk’s official role at Trump’s DOGE ends, but his political impact lingers ahead of midterms

As Elon Musk the world's richest person put it his role in steering President Donald Trump's Department of Regime Efficiency DOGE has come to an end However the president in a social media post on Thursday night announcing that he and Musk would gang up for a p m ET White House news conference on Friday teased that Musk would continue to help the Trump administration This will be his last day but not really because he will invariably be with us helping all the way Elon is terrific Musk's political impact on national politics and on next year's midterm elections - for better or for worse - is far from over and is likely to live on well past his official departure from the Trump administration WHAT'S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK'S DEPARTURE Trump after winning back the White House in last November's vote created DOGE with marching orders to overhaul and downsize the federal authorities Trump named Musk the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX and Trump's biggest political donor in the voting to steer the organization Elon Musk made the greater part serious attempt at reducing the size and scope of ruling body in modern political history It was at times chaotic but impactful veteran GOP strategist Ryan Williams explained Fox News Williams predicted that Musk's efforts will continue to linger as a political football but also a guide for Republicans if they're serious about limiting the increase of the federal administration After returning to the White House in January Musk and DOGE fast swept through federal agencies rooting out what the new administration argued was billions in wasteful federal spending Additionally they took a meat cleaver to the federal workforce resulting in a massive downsizing of employees Nothing symbolized Musk's controversial moves more than his brandishing of a chainsaw during a February appearance at the MAGA-dominated Conservative Political Action Conference where he touted how easy it was to save billions of dollars sometimes in an hour The moves by DOGE grabbed tons of national attention and triggered a slew of lawsuits in response Several of DOGE's cuts in executive staffing were stymied or reversed by federal court orders While DOGE was originally tasked with slashing trillion from the federal government's budget the DOGE website earlier this week commented that its efforts to date had led to roughly billion in savings due to asset sales contract cancellations fraud payment cuts in addition to other attempts to eliminate costs MUSK CRITICISM OF TRUMP'S BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL FRUSTRATES SELECTED REPUBLICANS Musk's arrival in the nation's capital came with a bang Thanks to a direct pipeline to the president and his powerful mouthpiece on the social media site X Musk instantly and repeatedly made headlines with his provocative moves and the targeting of people he did not like often to the chagrin of Trump administration functionaries and Republicans on Capitol Hill Trump repeatedly praised Musk and DOGE's efforts The vast majority of people in this country really respect and appreciate you and this whole room can say that very strongly you have really been a tremendous help the president mentioned during a Cabinet meeting four weeks ago when Musk revealed that he would be cutting back on his time spent with DOGE and the Trump administration However behind the scenes there was a lot less harmony People got really sick of him really fast a veteran Republican strategist with ties to the administration and Capitol Hill who petitioned to remain anonymous to speak more freely reported Fox News He was fun to begin with the strategist noted before adding that people inside and around the administration and people outside were tired of Musk by the end when he's sitting in a meeting wearing multiple hats on his head Additionally Musk's current criticism of Trump's sweeping big beautiful bill which passed a major congressional hurdle did not help matters While a slew of community opinion polls including national surveys from Fox News indicated that Americans like the idea of downsizing the federal regime those same surveys highlighted that the masses was far from thrilled with how Musk and DOGE carried out cuts to the federal bureaucracy WHITE HOUSE REVEALS NEXT APPROACHES FOR DOGE AFTER MUSK DEPARTUREMusk who spent nearly million in sponsorship of Trump's White House conquest rapidly became a lightening rod in the handful of off-year and special elections held early this year Through aligned political groups Musk dished out roughly million in battleground Wisconsin's high-profile state Supreme Court race in backing of Trump-backed judge Brad Schimel the conservative-leaning candidate in the voting process Musk in a controversial move handed out million checks at a rally in Green Bay two nights ahead of the polling to two Wisconsin voters who had already cast ballots in the contest and had signed a petition to stop activist judges Musk at the rally donned a cheesehead hat - a foam wedge which resembles a chunk of cheese - that is traditionally worn by devout Green Bay Packers football fans in Wisconsin and across the country However Schimel ended up losing by points to the Democratic-aligned candidate in what was supposed to be a close contest Musk ended up getting tagged with plenty of blame in a race that partially turned into a referendum on his efforts at DOGE TOP FIVE WILDEST MOMENTS OF MUSK'S DOGE TENUREDemocrats repeatedly made Musk the bogeyman in their messaging in Wisconsin's electoral process and in other contests and they pledged to continue to target him heading into next year's midterm elections when Republicans will be defending their razor-thin House majority and their modest Senate majority Top of mind for voters are the pocketbook issues Democrats are going to win by highlighting the fact that Republicans are failing at lowering costs because they are too busy pushing tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations while making the rest of us pay for them Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee national press secretary Viet Shelton described Fox News Shelton emphasized that Elon is and forever will be an instantly-recognizable manifestation of the fact that House Republicans don t work for the American people they work for the billionaires So were Musk's anticipated political risks to Republicans behind his departure from the nation's capitol A GOP strategist close to GOP lawmakers when inquired if Musk's welcome was wearing out among congressional Republicans mentioned yes to a point But I think the larger question about whether Musk and DOGE are liabilities in the midterms I would say emphatically no added the strategist who inquired for anonymity to speak more freely The strategist noted that GOP lawmakers who have talked about waste fraud and abuse and have talked about the savings generated by DOGE they've done quite well It's the folks who don't want to message on it and have not put Democrats on defense who are tired of Musk CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPAdditionally veteran Republican strategist Matt Gorman disagrees with the Democrats' argument about Musk's lasting impact on the campaign trail I don't think that in any way Elon Musk will be a factor one way or another in the year-plus that we have until Balloting Day Gorman a veteran of numerous presidential and statewide campaigns narrated Fox News