Trump says 'at some point' Elon Musk will 'be going back' to run his companies, leave DOGE to 'the secretaries'

Elon Musk has been the public face of the Department of Government Efficiency since the project was announced by President Donald Trump shortly after his presidential election win in November. Now that's he's staffed the project and gotten the spending cuts under way, Trump said Musk may leave DOGE and get back to running his many companies.

"I think he's amazing, but I also think he's got a big company to run, and so at some point he's going to be going back. He wants to. I'd keep him as long as I could keep him," Trump said during an signing ceremony for a slew of new executive orders. "He wants to. I'd keep him as long as I could keep him," Trump said.

He emphasized that agency heads who had worked with Musk had gotten a "big education" in how to tackle waste and fraud in government spending before saying that, should Musk leave DC to get back in the saddle at XAi, X, SpaceX, Tesla and Starlink, "there will be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work."

Musk has served as a temporary government employee, which has a set limit of 130 days. By the end of that term, Musk said during a recent interview with Fox News' Brett Baier, "I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame."

Musk took time out of his busy schedule to campaign on behalf of former Wisconsin attorney general Brad Schimel, who was running to fill a Supreme Court seat in that state. Armed with million dollar checks and a cheesehead hat, Musk spoke to voters and encouraged them to vote for Schimel. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is poised to address the legislature's planned redistricting in the state, which could reduce the number of GOP House reps the state sends to Washington.

The billionaire has been under fire in recent months for his alignment with Trump, the GOP and the MAGA movement. Tesla dealerships worldwide have been vandalized and torched while individual Tesla owners have been targeted by vandals. A recent incident in Flagstaff, Ariz. saw a man box a Tesla in with his own car, get out of that car, go over to the Tesla and beat up the 61-year-old woman who was driving. 

The Trump administration has classified these kinds of events as domestic terrorism. Protestors who oppose Trump have taken to dancing around outside Tesla dealerships while former Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz said he found joy in watching Tesla stock tank.