The end of DOGE? Musk could walk away after supposedly reducing the deficit by $1 trillion

In his interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, billionaire and ‘special government employee’ Elon Musk said that his work with DOGE might be accomplished by the time his contract is set to expire in May.

The work conducted by Musk for the Trump administration has been completed under the contract for a ‘special government employee,’ which, according to the US Office of Government Ethics, is not supposed to exceed 130 working days in a year. Based on this timeline, Elon Musk’s contract would end in May, and the Fox News host asked if he plans to stick to this timeframe and whether he feels that his work will be complete by that time.

What Musk would like to see DOGE ‘save’

Elon Musk has assumed a prominent role in the Trump administration through the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which the president established via executive order. DOGE regularly publishes the ‘savings’ it claims to have identified on its website, and as of Monday, March 31, asserts that it has saved taxpayers $140 billion.

Musk aims to achieve a ‘savings’ target of $1 trillion. The Associated Press reviewed many of the contracts canceled by DOGE, which account for around $25 billion in ‘savings.’ The outlet concluded that around 40 percent of the contracts cut would lead to no savings at all.

Additionally, there are concerns that the programs being cut to meet these targets may negatively impact those reliant on these services. For instance, the significant reduction of USAID contracts may severely limit urgent humanitarian aid to individuals worldwide in the short term. If this decrease in aid exacerbates an already critical humanitarian crisis, the government may ultimately need to intervene, which could lead to even higher costs as they work to rebuild the necessary infrastructure for aid delivery.

Additionally, as DOGE, in coordination with agency and department leaders, has laid off thousands of workers, these savings have been tallied up. However, as court cases that could lead to workers being reinstated continue, those savings could be erased if federal courts find that workers were unlawfully terminated and order the administration to reinstate these workers with back pay.

Tesla shareholders urge Musk to return to the private sector

As Musk has grown closer to President Trump, his public approval rating has fallen, and one of the most recent polls conducted by Harvard Center for American Political Studies and HarrisX shows that nearly half of respondents had an “unfavorable” view of Musk.

Fortune reported that some Tesla shareholders urged Musk to return to his role within the company, while others have argued that he should name an interim CEO to lead while he continues his work in the government. This news comes as Tesla sales plummet in markets around the world, with the company expected to release its first quarterly report of 2025 in April. Musk confirmed during his interview on Fox News that his companies were “suffering” as a result of his work for the Trump administration.

Musk leaves open the possibility of continuing to work for the Trump administration

The concerns of shareholders and the expiration of his special government employee contract could be enough to incentivize Musk back into the private sector, but he did not make any such promise during an interview on Fox News. “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that timeframe,” stated Musk. With DOGE reporting around $146 billion in savings as of the end of March, Musk did not explain how the vast majority of the target would be reached in the coming months.

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