What Elon Musk’s pending exit means for Washington

Summary

POLITICO Tech: What Elon Musk’s Pending Exit Means for Washington
Release Date: April 7, 2025

In this insightful episode of the POLITICO Tech podcast, host Stephen Overlee delves into the significant implications of Elon Musk’s announced departure from the Washington administration. Joined by POLITICO’s Capitol Bureau Chief and senior Washington columnist Rachel Bade, and longtime tech journalist Izzy Lipowski, the discussion unpacks Musk’s influence on politics and business, the ripple effects of his exit, and what Washington might look like without his presence.

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1. Elon Musk’s Departure: Timing and Motivations

The episode opens with Stephen Overlee addressing the recent announcement that Elon Musk will be leaving his role in the administration in the coming weeks—a decision reported by President Donald Trump. Rachel Bade provides context on the timing and underlying reasons:

Rachel Bade [02:11]: "Donald Trump told his inner circle and the cabinet that Elon Musk is going to be moving on from his current role in the government in the next few weeks... Some people are ready for him to move on."

The conversation highlights the White House’s assertion that Musk’s departure was always part of the plan, yet Bade points out that internal sentiments within Trump’s circle indicate growing frustration and a desire for Musk to step back.

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2. Political Implications: Musk’s Role Within the GOP

Rachel Bade discusses Musk’s intricate relationship with former President Trump and the Republican Party, emphasizing Musk’s significance as a financial backer:

Rachel Bade [02:51]: "Rep. Republicans, frankly, want that money. He has a bromance with Donald Trump that is real... So I don't think he's going to disappear, but he's definitely becoming a little more politically fraught."

Bade explains that while Musk remains a valuable asset for his financial support, his unpredictable actions and public persona are creating tensions within the GOP, leading to a complex dynamic where his influence is both needed and seen as problematic.

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3. Business Pressures: Tesla’s Struggles and Shareholder Concerns

Izzy Lipowski sheds light on the business challenges Musk is facing, particularly with Tesla’s declining performance:

Izzy Lipowski [05:34]: "Tesla saw a 13% decline in vehicle sales year over year and that's huge... the backlash is very, very real."

Lipowski discusses how Tesla’s dropping sales and financial losses are exacerbating the pressures on Musk, making his role as CEO more precarious. Shareholders are growing restless, and Musk’s divided attention between his various enterprises (Tesla, SpaceX, X) is a point of contention.

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4. Musk’s Long-Term Vision vs. Political and Business Short-Termism

The discussion contrasts Musk’s grand, long-term ambitions with the often short-sighted nature of political and business environments:

Rachel Bade [10:02]: "Republicans are gonna want that money, man... They're gonna just steamroll these kids once he's gone."

The panelists explore how Musk’s vision of saving humanity and colonizing Mars stands in stark contrast to the immediate concerns and electoral cycles that dominate Washington and corporate boardrooms.

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5. Tech Industry’s Silence: Fear and Conformity

Izzy Lipowski addresses the pervasive fear within Silicon Valley and the broader tech industry regarding opposition to Musk and Trump:

Izzy Lipowski [12:00]: "The reason to pick out the tech industry is because this is an industry that, you know, the most powerful people in this industry are now not just supportive of this administration, but they are working in this administration."

Lipowski explains that the alignment of powerful tech figures with the Trump administration has created an environment where speaking out against Musk—or Trump—carries significant personal and professional risks, leading to a notable silence among dissenters.

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6. The Future of Washington Post-Musk: Potential Scenarios

Rachel Bade and Izzy Lipowski speculate on the potential landscape of Washington if Musk departs, considering whether initiatives like DOGE will persist:

Rachel Bade [16:03]: "I'm not sure what happens to Doge without him. The President seemed to suggest that the secretaries have had some sort of education from him on how to cut waste, fraud and abuse and that they might fully take over things."

The panel discusses the uncertainty surrounding policy initiatives spearheaded by Musk, questioning whether his departure will lead to their continuation or dissolution. They also ponder the lasting impact of Musk’s influence on governmental operations and policy directions.

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7. GOP’s Future Without Musk: Renewed Focus and Strategic Shifts

Rachel Bade highlights the Republican Party’s anticipation of a Washington post-Musk:

Rachel Bade [17:04]: "A lot of Republicans think that he's absolutely toxic and will be the reason they lose the House. So they want, they do want him to move on."

The conversation underscores the GOP’s strategic recalibration, aiming to distance itself from the negative fallout of Musk’s actions and leveraging his departure to rebuild and refocus their political strategies without his controversial presence.

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8. Conclusion: Ongoing Tensions and the Path Forward

As the episode winds down, Rachel Bade and Izzy Lipowski emphasize that Musk’s influence remains potent even as his official role wanes. Bale anticipates continued tensions and unexpected developments in the coming weeks:

Rachel Bade [17:04]: "I think there will still be some tension and surprises in the next few weeks. So the Elon Musk story of blowing up Washington is just, it's not over yet."

Izzy Lipowski adds that Musk’s presence on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) will continue to shape public discourse and political narratives, regardless of his formal departure from the administration.

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Key Takeaways

• Elon Musk’s exit from the administration: Driven by internal GOP frustrations and business pressures, signaling a shift in the party’s reliance on his financial and entrepreneurial support.

• Political and business ramifications: Musk’s departure could lead to significant changes in policy initiatives like DOGE, with Republicans eager to distance themselves from his increasingly controversial influence.

• Tech industry dynamics: The alignment of influential tech figures with the Trump administration has fostered an environment of fear and conformity, stifling dissent within Silicon Valley.

• Future of Washington: Musk’s absence may bring relief to some within the GOP but also poses uncertainties regarding the continuation of his policy impacts and the overall direction of governmental tech initiatives.

This episode provides a comprehensive analysis of the multifaceted impact of Elon Musk’s potential departure from Washington, highlighting the intersection of technology, politics, and business in shaping the future landscape.

Transcript

[Rachel Bade]

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[Stephen Overlee]

Fees apply hey, welcome back to Politico Tech. I'm your host, Stephen Overlen. The name on everyone's lips in Washington for months and in politics for even longer appears to be on his way out. President Donald Trump told his inner circle that Musk will be departing his administration in the coming weeks. And while the White House contends that was always the plan, the timing is certainly convenient. On the political front, Musk's fortunes fell to a new low last week after his conservative pick for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court lost big. And in business, his flagship company, Tesla, has been beset by boycotts and vandals, resulting in financial losses for the company and for Musk personally. To capture the twin pressures facing Musk in this moment, I called up two top notch POLITICO's Capitol Bureau Chief and senior Washington columnist Rachel Bade and Politico contributor and longtime tech journalist Izzy Lipowski. On the show today, we discuss Musk's staying power and what Washington might look like without him. Here's our conversation. Rachel. Izzy, welcome to Politico Tech.

[Izzy Lipowski]

Thanks for having us.

[Rachel Bade]

Yeah, happy to be here.

[Stephen Overlee]

Rachel, let me come to you first. You know, Elon Musk's role in this administration and kind of within Republican politics feels more tenuous than ever. You're talking to a lot of folks in Trump's inner circle and the White House. What are you hearing about his future in the gop?

[Rachel Bade]

Yeah, I mean, so the big news obviously was that Donald Trump told his inner circle and the cabinet that Elon Musk is going to be moving on from his current role in in government in the next few weeks. Is this a couple weeks? Is it more like a month or two TBD at this point? But there was a big question, as you know, Stephen, about how long he was gonna be hanging around. I mean, like just a few weeks ago, like people in the White House were suggesting he was, quote, here to stay and frankly, they were pulling their hair out. Cuz a lot of them want to see him move on privately, even though they won't say it publicly. So he's gonna be moving on. I mean, long term. Is he gonna disappear? Probably not. This is the money man, right? I mean, he's got a lot of talent.

[Stephen Overlee]

Exactly, yeah.

[Rachel Bade]

And Rep. Republicans, frankly, want that money. He has a bromance with Donald Trump that is real. Even though they have both, you know, decided it's gonna soon be time for him to move on. My understanding is that Trump just fricking loves him. Just loves him, loves his youth, loves his self made, you know, wealth, loves that he's like the richest man in the world and he's his friend. So I don't think he's not gonna disappear, but he's definitely becoming a little more politically fraught. And so some people are ready for him to move on.

[Stephen Overlee]

Yeah, I mean, he's been, frankly, more than I ever expected. Like, at the White House every day, traveling with Trump every moment. It's been pretty shocking. And I know that Trump has been telling people that the reason he's leaving soon is to kind of go back to running his businesses. Is that like, when, you know, someone leaves a job and they leave their job to, quote, like, spend more time with their family or is like that always been the plan, as the White House says?

[Rachel Bade]

No, that's actually a really good question. I think that it depends on who you ask because, you know, people who are defenders of Elon Musk in the administration, they're making this argument that there's only so much more he can cut before he starts to cut to the bone in, you know, basically scale back or cut services that impact a lot of Americans and that that would have a huge political blowback. So their sort of argument is that, oh, you know, we're sort of hitting that point. Interestingly enough, though, J.D. vance, after my story ran about this, he went on TV and said Doge is just getting. And if you actually look at the numbers Doge put out, like last week, I think they were only at like 110 or $115 billion. And Musk said he wants to cut $1 trillion. So if you look at the numbers, he's not even anywhere close. So, you know, it does seem like a little bit of an excuse if they're saying he's done and moving on. And then there's the other thing here, which is, of course, that he's becoming toxic. I have heard from a lot of Trump allies that people like the fact that he's sort of a heat shield for Donald Trump. They like the fact that he takes the arrows and is sort of the bad guy in the boogeyman for Democrats. But at some point, as somebody said to me, the Doge shit, or the dog shit, which she called the Doge shit, starts to spill out on the principle. And that is what people fear is happening, that Trump is starting to get soiled or sullied by what Musk is doing. And so, yeah, people just want him out.

[Stephen Overlee]

One Democrats have very clearly landed on a message of tying the two of them together. Izzy, I want to come to you because if Musk is leaving to focus on his businesses, it would be for good reason. I mean, clearly they're in a bit of trouble. Tesla in particular, right, like the stock price, I was just looking at it, it has fallen well from its post election high sales were down in the first quarter. I mean, what kind of pressure is he under from a business standpoint?

[Izzy Lipowski]

Well, I think a tremendous amount. Right. Shareholders are not happy with this. I mean, you add to what's going on just more broadly in the like, this is a tough time for businesses and they want their CEO to be present and not distracted. You could argue that Elon Musk is going to be distracted no matter what because he's got Tesla and he's got SpaceX and he's got X and he's got his constant posting and his political appearances. Right? So this is a very highly distractible man. But they either want him, you know, gone or back in the driver's seat and he's not going to be gone. That's the fact of the matter. Right, but you're right, I mean, Tesla saw a 13% decline in vehicle sales year over year and that's huge. And I think that was like really a reckoning point because, you know, he has kind of been dismissing these Tesla protests as the work of paid agitators and oh, you know, it's not really basically dismissing the backlash, right, with those earnings reports you saw, you know, the backlash is very, very real. But you know, at the same time, this is a person who has proven himself very willing to withstand financial pain. I mean, X was worth a lot more before he bought it, when it was Twitter. And he has sort of been riding it out for reasons one can only speculate about, but he has never seemed to let a short term financial loss take him off course.

[Stephen Overlee]

Yeah, well, this is something I've heard over and over again, and I'm sure you both have as well, that like not to doubt Elon Musk, right? This is the man who like sends rockets to space and builds electric vehicles and is Trying to colonize Mars, of all things. I mean, is he actually down and out right now? Is he. What do you think?

[Izzy Lipowski]

Oh, I don't know if I can get into that man psychology, man. I mean, like, I think he's.

[Stephen Overlee]

Or want to.

[Izzy Lipowski]

Yeah, I think not unlike Trump, he has this echo chamber that is telling him that he's, you know, doing all the best things and he is our savior. He's gonna send us all to Mars while saving the US Government from extinction or what have you. I don't know if he's down and out. I'm certain that the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, you know, was a blow in some way or another, but you already kind of see the ways in which he's trying to explain that away.

[Rachel Bade]

I would just jump in to say, I mean, I guess it depends on what is his aim here, right? I mean, like, clearly, Wisconsin, he didn't do. He didn't help the candidate. And, like, some people in the White House are scratching their heads. Republicans across the country scratching their heads. If you're toxic, why are you going in a couple days before the race and basically ginning up Democrats to come out and make sure your candidate loses? Which is exactly what happened. But we're talking about this man more than we ever have. And from that perspective, like, he is very much seen as sort of this evil genius right now. Maybe he wants that. I mean, he's different, and it's a. He leans into it. He owns it. And, like, you know, people on the right love him. They worship him. I mean, the fact that, like, he wore that black MAGA hat on the campaign trail, I was told that that became, like, the number one Trump apparel seller. He's definitely got a following. And, yeah, it's blowing back right now, but, I mean, I'm willing to bet that he thinks it's all worth it in the long run. Wow, this house is cute. But can I really get in the game in this economy? I do have savings, and I am responsible. Ish. I should bury it. I'm being wild. But what if I'm not being wild, though? Could I actually score a kick off your home buying journey with Zillow's new viability tool? It makes it easy to find out what you can afford so you can get off the bench and onto the playing field with confidence. Check your buyability only on Zillow.

[Stephen Overlee]

On the one hand, it's, of course, let's be honest, like, money buys you staying power, right? And so whether that's politics or business, he's still the richest man in the world and he'll be sticking around. I also think, and this is sometimes lost in like the headlines about Doge and stuff, that Elon Musk is a very long term thinker. His ambitions are like, bigger certainly than anyone in Washington. Right. Like people in Washington are thinking about winning the next election. Most business people are thinking about the next quarter. Elon Musk thinks like he's trying to save humanity. Right. He like, sees himself as like carrying, you know, the world on his shoulders in a very literal way. Does that vastly wealth, you think, mean he's leaving politics anytime soon?

[Rachel Bade]

Republicans are gonna want that money, man. I mean, I think there's a reason why Izzy, jump in if you want here too, for sure. But there's a reason why even when he comes in and blows up everything they wanna do think about the government funding bill right before Christmas, bipartisan deal Speaker Mike Johnson struck. I mean, the criticism was very gentle, even though people were very pissed off behind the scenes. They see him as someone they can, you know, sort of dig in his pockets for the next few decades.

[Izzy Lipowski]

Yeah, this is his new calling, for sure. And I also think that he is somebody who, trying to think, how to put this without sounding, you know, like an 8th grade mean girl, but, you know, he is something who's kind of looking for the cool kids at the lunch table. Right. He's kind of, you know, he. He found his crowd on X by being X, let me call it. He found his crowd on Twitter by being, you know, sort of the biggest troll on Twitter. And then realizing that he had that aud on Twitter, he was like, I can actually just buy this thing and be the boss of it and make sure that, you know, everybody is reflecting my viewpoints and all that. So, yeah, I think that this is sort of like the next iteration of that. He's found like this real audience that, to Rachel's point, you know, idolizes him and fawns over him. And they do that in part because they need his money. And I don't see him walking away from that.

[Stephen Overlee]

Yeah, I mean, sounds like Donald Trump in a nutshell. Right? Very similar situation. And I have to think the popularity numbers around Elon Musk right now, the fact that he's so unpopular has got to eat away at him a bit. I mean, Izzy, you just wrote this great story in Politico magazine about essentially all these Silicon Valley types who oppose Musk and what he's been doing with Doge, but they're too afraid to speak out about it. You know, which is similar to what Rachel was saying with the White House and some Republicans like, hesitating to speak out against what Musk is doing. Why is there this fear in Silicon Valley?

[Izzy Lipowski]

Well, I think. Let me just start by saying I think this fear is everywhere. It's on college campuses, it's in Congress, it's in business. It's everywhere. However, the reason to pick out the tech industry is because this is an industry that, you know, the most powerful people in this industry are now not just, you know, supportive of this administration, but they are working in this administration. Right? It's Elon, it's David Sachs. There's a lot of these VC guys who are the ones who decide who gets funded, and they have a lot of power. They can decide who gets hired and fired and all of that. So now it's like the people from within the tech world's inner circle who are now deeply ingrained in the White House. You're not just fearful of the consequences of speaking out against the government, but also against the most powerful people in your industry at the same time. And I think it's most acutely felt because the tech industry has always had this real autonomy, right? Like, right down to the workers. They are wealthy, they are privileged, they have great benefits. They were not going to get fired because there was a massive competition for talent. And so you saw Google workers protest the ban on people from Muslim countries during Trump's first term. And the CEO of Google and one of the co founders of Google were right there with them, right? They had this sort of like, shield, and they don't have that anymore. Their CEOs are aligning with Trump. They were standing right there behind him on the dais on Inauguration Day. And so it's kind of whiplash. They had all this freedom and now they don't. And there is a very vocal, very empowered, likely minority of their own industry that is Elon Musk fanboys.

[Stephen Overlee]

Right?

[Izzy Lipowski]

And so if you speak out against Musk or if you speak out against Trump, you also get brigaded and harassed by all of those people. So there's sort of the personal and professional risks that they feel they're taking.

[Stephen Overlee]

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that. I, for the podcast, had reached out to this contact of mine from Trump's 1.0 administration who led, like, one of these tech worker advocacy groups, was very outspoken against Trump's policies. And I reached out like, okay, what's the game Plan for Trump 2.0? Like, what are you doing? And he was literally emailed me back. And he said, oh, I gave up on that in, like, 2019. We had no success. And, like, he's like, I just live out in the desert and do my thing.

[Izzy Lipowski]

Wow.

[Stephen Overlee]

I feel like that is, like, in a nutshell, some of the, like, opposition that existed in tech has just gone so quiet. Like you said, does the fact that Elon Musk is facing all these challenges, you think, change that? Like, does it make him more vulnerable to criticism from people in tech?

[Izzy Lipowski]

Yeah, I asked people this because over the course of the reporting, you know, his standing kind of got a little bit shakier and the rumors started circulating about him potentially leaving soon. And some said, yeah, you know, I think that there is going to be an opening sometime soon, particularly as Doge's actions start to negatively impact the tech industry. Right. One of the reasons why, as an executive you might not say anything is because you don't want to lose your government contracts. That's a really, really big part of your business. But if Elon Musk is cutting those contracts, well, what do you have to lose? So there is this feeling that, you know, the more, as Rachel said, that Doge kind of cuts to the bone and hits the tech industry where it hurts, the more they're going to feel empowered to speak up. I think you're already kind of seeing that this is not necessarily a Doge movement, but with the tariffs, I think obviously there's a groundswell of opposition from the business community to that. And so. But then, you know, there are people who are still fearful of that sort of second order effect of being harassed and trolled and, you know, swatted at their homes or businesses, like that sort of personal safety risk that some people are going to continue to have.

[Stephen Overlee]

You know, Rachel, one question on my mind. I'm curious what you make of this is like assuming Musk does, in fact leave the White House and step back, at least from day to day life in Washington. What does Washington look like without Musk? I mean, he feels like he came in fast, he made this huge impact, and I don't know that going back to business as usual is on the table.

[Rachel Bade]

It's a really good question. I'm not sure what happens to Doge without him. Does it exist? The President seemed to suggest that the secretaries have had some sort of education from him on how to cut waste, fraud and abuse and that they might fully take over things. But look, a lot of these headlines that we have seen about Doge and Musk over the past few months, like, this was all him Right. This wasn't the White House coming in, being like, oh, we need to cut this. Oftentimes it was him saying, I'm gonna cut this, and then not telling, you know, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who would find out about it after the fact, or secretaries who found out about.

[Izzy Lipowski]

It after the fact.

[Rachel Bade]

So, and this just sort of gets back to this notion that people did not predict that what he was going to do was going to mushroom so quickly and balloon so quickly, blow up so quickly. And so, yeah, I don't think we're going to see these sorts of headlines as much anymore.

[Stephen Overlee]

Do you get the sense from the people you talk to that there's an excitement for post Musk Washington?

[Rachel Bade]

Absolutely. I mean, a lot of Republicans think that he's absolutely toxic and will be the reason they lose the House. So they want, they do want him to move on. And they, Republicans at first were like, very excited about what he was doing. And frankly, like, you know, when it comes to cutting federal workers, that kind of thing doesn't necessarily resonate with a lot of Americans, I frankly don't think. But then when you start suggesting that Democrats suggesting that they're going to cut, you know, entitlement programs, that they're going to hurt in some way, veterans, like people became afraid and that that became the narrative and Democrats were able to control the narrative. So, yes, I do think Republicans now want them to go. I want to say one thing, though. He still has a few more weeks on this, maybe even as much as almost two months left before he leaves. And if that is the case, and man, I have not covered him for very long, not nearly as long as you have, Izzy, maybe you can speak to this too. But my sense from him is that he doesn't like to leave a job unfinished. And the man keeps saying he wants a trillion dollars and if he's only at $100 billion and he by his own account, by his own accounting, which by the way, is riddled with fraud and errors. Right. So it's even probably smaller than that. But, but point being, he is not even close to this goal. He's got two months left at max, and people in the admin feel like he's already gone too far. And so I think that there will still be some tension and surprises in the next few weeks. So the Elon Musk story of blowing up Washington is just, it's not over yet.

[Izzy Lipowski]

What'll definitely be interesting is how he, if and when he leaves, how he continues to talk about what the White House is doing online, right? Like we even saw at very outset of the administration when Sam Altman of OpenAI, who Musk loathes, was, was standing right there next to Trump announcing this big data center deal, Stargate. You know, Musk immediately was typing out a message saying they don't have the funding secured, blah, blah, blah, kind of shit talking. And it'll be interesting to see whether he kind of goes back to that. If to your point, Rachel, they don't get to that magic $1 trillion number, whether he continues to smack talk.

[Rachel Bade]

And by the way, this was a fear that a lot of, or at least one person in Trump's campaign early on said to me that the President doesn't realize that by empowering Musk and like keeping him close, he's elevating him in a way that at some point he's going to undercut Trump himself. Basically come back and it's going to come back and bite you. And they started to see it with that announcement, right? They roll out that AI announcement and then he undercut it there. And people were super pissed about that. And you're right, he's got this platform he owns. X clearly is tweeting all the time, like, what is he going to say once he's gone?

[Stephen Overlee]

Totally. I'm so fascinated to hear what you two are watching on this. I mean, from my perspective, exactly the same thing. One, you know, are they as buddy, buddy and as in lockstep, when they're no longer cohabitating essentially at the White House. The other thing I'm watching is like, you know, this loose apparatus around Doge, right? These like young workers who have gone into these agencies and blown things up. I mean, if you're a cabinet secretary, it's hard to push back on Elon Musk once Elon Musk is gone. If you're a cabinet secretary, I don't think it's as hard to push these 19, 20 year olds, right? Like, get out of this conference room and stop. Get out of our data, you know. And so does the like DOGE apparatus continue in the same way? I have to think not. But, you know, I've been surprised before.

[Izzy Lipowski]

It'll be interesting if the DOGE kids even stick around, right? You know, right now they're working for their idol, you know, are they going to want to stay when they're working for Joe Schmo, bureaucrat?

[Rachel Bade]

Absolutely. And the secretaries, they're already wanting Musk gone. They're absolutely going to just steamroll these kids once he's gone.

[Stephen Overlee]

Melissa, Izzy, Rachel, thanks for being here.

[Izzy Lipowski]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Rachel Bade]

Great conversation. Happy to be part of it. Thanks.

[Stephen Overlee]

That's all for today's Politico Tech. If you enjoy Politico Tech, please subscribe and recommend it to a friend or colleague. And for more tech news, subscribe to our newsletters, Digital Future Daily and Morning Tech. Music in our show comes from the mysterious Brake Master Cylinder. Our managing producer is Annie Reese. Philip Frobos helped produce today's episode. I'm Stephen Overlee. See you back here on Thursday.