Maybe Musk Isn’t All-Powerful, After All

 

Maybe Musk Isn’t All-Powerful, After All

 

A series of setbacks have raised questions about Elon Musk’s enduring influence in the White House.

 

Jess Bidgood

By Jess Bidgood

April 18, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/us/politics/musk-doge-irs-bessent.html

 

At the start of the new Trump administration, Elon Musk’s influence seemed to have no limits.

 

He was in the Oval Office, one of his sons on his shoulders. He was meeting with heads of state. He was putting the United States Agency for International Development through the “wood chipper.” He gave a Fox News interview with President Trump.

 

Over the past couple of weeks, though, Trump’s highest-profile governing partner has faced setbacks that raise questions about his enduring power and relationships in the White House.

 

Some of my colleagues reported today that the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service was being replaced after the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, complained that Musk had his preferred candidate installed in the role without Bessent’s blessing.

 

It was only on Tuesday that Trump had appointed Musk’s choice, Gary Shapley, to run the agency temporarily. But since then, my colleagues reported, Bessent secured the president’s approval to send Musk’s pick packing.

 

It’s the latest bump in the road during Musk’s three-month crash course in government. He has repeatedly rankled certain members of Trump’s cabinet by failing to coordinate with them. His overall progress with the Department of Government Efficiency has been slower than he imagined. He was practically admonished by Trump in public after a plan for him to receive a classified briefing on China was leaked and then scuttled.

 

He suffered a high-profile political defeat after inserting himself into this month’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race. And despite his public opposition to Trump’s tariffs — and the trade adviser promoting them — he is not believed to have played a substantial role in persuading the president to change course.

 

As these obstacles have piled up, I’ve noticed that we haven’t seen quite so much of a billionaire who usually possesses no shortage of main-character energy. When he joined a cabinet meeting last week, he spoke only briefly during the televised portion, in contrast with his first such appearance, which essentially turned into the Elon Musk show. He hasn’t given a major interview in a couple of weeks.

 

Musk has even been posting less frequently on X, his social media platform. My eagle-eyed colleague Kate Conger, who tracks those posts, noticed this week that what had seemed like a constant barrage — in March, he posted more than 3,000 times, averaging about 107 posts per day — has let up a little bit. He has posted about 55 times per day so far in April, and he hasn’t had a single day of triple-digit posting all month.

 

This is not to suggest that his government-slashing efforts, or the ethos they represent, are in retreat. Behind the scenes, Musk has begun new efforts, including building a “gold card” visa program for rich foreigners. This week, DOGE gutted AmeriCorps, the service program that employs a legion of young Americans. And yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fired a large number of its 1,700 employees — although a judge temporarily paused those cuts — and de-prioritized its core functions like enforcement and oversight for what’s left of it.

 

Trump has privately acknowledged that Musk has made mistakes, my colleagues reported, but he still speaks of Musk warmly, expressing deep gratitude that the world’s richest man has weathered falling sales at Tesla and attacks on some of its dealerships while working with him. He lavished Musk with praise at last week’s cabinet meeting, even though he quickly moved the meeting along after Musk spoke. And his conservative allies, like the podcaster Joe Rogan, continue to praise Tesla’s cars.

 

Musk might not have had the greatest run recently. And he might not win every battle. But a man who has seemingly relished his role in government is unlikely to fade from relevance anytime soon.