Elon Musk isn’t as publicly, obviously involved in Washington as he used to be, that much is clear. But celebrations of his political exile are premature.
Sure, it’s true that Musk and Donald Trump’s bombastic joint press conferences have faded. Trump is no longer shooting Tesla ads on the White House lawn. And Musk has said that he’ll be stepping away from government and focusing on Tesla.
But Musk loves to lie. He’s said he’ll spend “a lot less” on politics in the future, but I am also old enough to remember “funding secured.” The government is still infested with his lackeys, such as Steve Davis, Chris Young, and Jehn Balajadia. Even in an announcement that was widely reported as Musk stepping back from DC, Musk made it clear he’d spend “a day or two per week” on politics for the rest of Trump’s term.
I tend to view the credulous political obituaries people have written as wishful thinking, but I do understand the impulse. So much of Musk’s whole thing is spectacle that when he’s no longer publicly performing, it’s possible to believe nothing is happening. This is a mistake. We don’t even know the extent of what DOGE has done so far, and in the absence of a serious GAO repo …