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On Capitol Hill, there was one universal sentiment circulating among Republicans of all political stripes: Finally.
Wednesday’s word—if accurate—that billionaire Elon Musk was poised to leave President Donald Trump’s inner circle in the coming weeks came as a relief to top GOP aides who saw Trump’s favorite chaos agent as a drag on their efforts to deliver on a conservative agenda. There were some suggestions that Musk may not leave the Administration entirely, but rather downgrade his public involvement. The murkiness of the scale-back was typical for a President who hates to be boxed in or give his critics validation.
Musk, the Tesla chief who purchased Twitter and has vowed to populate Mars, has been a colossal distraction and a magnet for controversy from what should be a unified Republican team in control of the House, the Senate, and the executive branch. He has been a ubiquitous presence at the White House, an annoyance to Cabinet Secretaries and department chiefs, and a walking personification of the Trump orbit’s amateurism and kleptocracy. Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have been rushing through Washington, slashing programs and jobs with what even some small-government conservatives view as too fast and with little consideration for the consequences, all while cashing billions in government contracts for his own companies.
News of Musk’s expected withdrawal, first reported by Politico, came less than 24 hours after troubling results for Republicans in special elections in Florida and Wisconsin. Those early verdicts on the second Trump era saw Republicans underperform in MAGA Country and completely fail in a state Supreme Court race that Musk all but made his own personal crusade. It’s that last race, in a state typically decided by one percentage point or so but on Tuesday saw the liberal candidate win by 10 points, that left the most obvious damage.
“Day late. Dollar short,” one Hill aide texted me, linking to the Politico story. “Glad we made the WI-SC race all about Elon.” The sarcasm dripped.
Another responded with a clip of a Lizzo lyric: “About damn time.”
The report got immediate pushback, especially among Trump’s apologists. The argument went something like this: Yes, Musk hurt the GOP brand and his work in Wisconsin was nothing short of a failure, but his celebrity marries nicely with Trump’s self-image. Plus, Musk remains the world’s richest man and his pockets are ripe for raiding.
For its part, the White House officially called the report “garbage.” But there have been hints that Musk’s time was short, including the President who said Musk would at some point have to return to the private sector.
“At some point, Elon’s going to want to go back to his company,” Trump said on Monday.
To a tee, Hill Republicans have tolerated Musk because he clearly has the ear of the President, who has invited his billionaire patron to join Cabinet meetings, bill signings, and even his joint address to Congress. Musk’s star has overblown any other shine in the Trump Cabinet, and spats inside the inner circle have seeped into the open as the folks actually charged with leading the government have bristled at orders from the billionaire bestie. Lawmakers have complained that they’ve been blindsided by cuts and changes, leaving them exposed while home. Musk and his hacker minions have blown into departments, demanding access to highly sensitive data in pursuit of finding waste, fraud, and abuse—often making cuts and promoting the reductions before fully understanding what was going on.
What has resulted in the first weeks of Musk’s campaign against government has been reports of veterans being fired, whole agencies mothballed—probably unconstitutionally, courts are declaring—and benefits thrown into risk. The result has been an unrelenting pile of bad headlines, although White House aides have done their best to mask the setbacks, knowing Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars on Trump’s last election and has pledged $100 million going forward.
For their part, lawmakers have tried to flag for the White House the back-home problems for constituents, but have been careful not to come off as anti-Musk. Trump voters may say they want government slashed, but are less supportive when the details come out—particularly as farm subsidies are thrown into question, V.A. clinics are threatened, and popular programs in rural schools are put at risk. Simply put, the local ripples could end up causing a national tide.
Tuesday’s election results were the first real warning sign of those troubles and their costs. Musk made the Wisconsin race his Waterloo, saying Western civilization itself hung in the balance. He visited the state over the weekend, campaigning for a Trump-backed candidate and handing out checks to voters. The state is no stranger to out-of-town political activists—it has long been a testing ground for the network of groups funded by the billionaire Koch family—but the enthusiasm among Democrats in rejecting Musk’s bid was unstoppable.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday trashed the results and credited Trump with saving the pair of races in deep-red MAGA territory. DeSantis, who has savaged one of the nominees as uniquely terrible, nonetheless acknowledged this was not the right trajectory for the GOP.
So, as White House aides figured out how to spin the setbacks, the most obvious answer was also the easiest: cut Musk loose. By the very nature of his position, Musk was always going to be a short-time fed, likely exiting in May. His DOGE gig remained a side-hustle as he kept running his companies and launching rockets into space. Hastening his exit, or at least advertising his move into the background, would help Trump.
After all, Trump has proven in the past that his loyalty is conditional. Rather than take the political discomfort, he has shoved aide after aide out the door. While Musk has commanded Trump’s respect and awe—and has an unmatched pocketbook—there’s no reason to think he can’t eventually be sidelined as well. It’s been precisely what traditional Republicans have been counting on, and they took heart on Wednesday that some patterns never fail. The specifics of Musk’s climb down remain to be seen, but the fact that chatter about it is being received with such glee among Hill Republicans may be the validation that moves Trump to a hard yes on Musk’s shift.
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