Speculation of Tesla CEO’s possible departure comes as his influence in the administration appears to wane

Elon Musk is reportedly set to leave his government role because he’s tired of the what he sees as a litany of vicious and unethical attacks from the left, according to a report from The Washington Post.

It remains unclear when Musk will depart as head of DOGE; his special government employee status will expire at the end of next month. A person familiar with his thinking told The Post that Musk thinks that his work at DOGE won’t be diminished because of his departure, noting that staffers have already established themselves across a slew of federal agencies.

But speculation of Musk’s possible departure comes as his influence in the administration appears to wane. The New York Times reported last week that the acting commissioner of the IRS was being replaced after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained that Musk had his preferred candidate installed without Bessent’s support. Musk has also annoyed other cabinet members by failing to coordinate with them in cost-cutting moves.

  • @friend_of_satan@lemmy.world
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    1254 days ago

    He is the richest man in the world. He has every resource available to him. He constantly punches down. He doesn’t deserve any sympathy.

  • Snot Flickerman
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    1415 days ago

    He already gave himself backdoor access to everything. Don’t believe he’s really gone.

    He’s gonna come back like a ransomware hacker, threatening to delete whole systems unless he gets what he wants.

  • @Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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    414 days ago

    And it has nothing to do with the expiry on the special appointment coming up where Trump will either have to make him a real federal employee with all the legal exposure that confers or let him go.

    As others have pointed out, he’s already compromised systems, downloaded what data he could for Peter Thiel/Palantir, broken those organizations to the furthest extent he is able, and likely will have continued access to the data through illegal means in the future for himself/his handlers.

    He’s not ‘leaving politics’ because those mean liberals, he’s leaving because as a useful idiot, he’s fulfilled his use and maybe realized he was being used as an idiot, but likely not.

    • Seems odd to imply he is concerned about the legal exposure of being a federal employee but willing to maintain illegal access to government data.
      I don’t think he cares one lick about legal exposure. Others are just pushing back against what he wants to do, and he doesn’t like obstacles.

    • Trump can do whatever he wants. The Supreme Court said so, Congress won’t complain, and he has already completed the first round of purges of the executive branch.

      He could declare a horse his co-consul and the only downside would be some snarky mentions in some histories written by the senatorial classes.

  • @D_C@lemm.ee
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    464 days ago

    Alternate title:
    “Scumbag musk has got all the info he needs from all the government servers. Now he’s going to distance himself from everything then use that info as blackmail, or sell to Russia etc etc.”

    • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      294 days ago

      Primary goal was to neuter and disarm any agency that was actively investigating him, or had the authority to investigate him in the future.

      The stolen data was just a happy little side dish he came into, that I’m sure isnt totally already in Russias hands. Just like how government credentials and login information didnt immediately end up in Russia’s hands after Musks sham of an agency got a hold of them (it totally did)

  • @Deceptichum@quokk.au
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    5 days ago

    I wish.

    He’s running because Trump is getting tired of him and he achieved his strategic goals of removing business regulation hurdles.

    Blaming attacks from the left makes him look like a victim and play up the “evil leftists” angle so they can attack them more, while giving him a “safe” out.

    • @Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      It’s up, despite them completely shitting the bed on earnings. We’ll see if it stays that way. Having traded stocks as a hobby, the market can be stupidly irrational sometimes. I believe it’s up because he said he was going to distance himself from doge a bit, and do more for Tesla. Imo the damage is done, and he has done irreparable harm to the brand. Working less days for Doge doesn’t change the fact that he founded Doge and pissed a lot of potential customers off in the process.

  • @antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 days ago

    Lots of people would like to “leave politics”, as they find themselves under “vicious and unethical attacks” by politicians. However, those people’s political existence was forced upon them, they didn’t want to be a “political” object, especially not in the current landscape.

    Musk instead took up his political role consciously, and used it to further attack and harm many who would prefer to be left in peace. He had the luxury to activate himself, commit far worse violence upon the people than he has been subjected to by the people, and when he realises he doesn’t really like it, even though the issues he’s facing are probably comparatively trivial, he (believes he) has the luxury to return to a more secluded, safe position.

    It’s really quite disgusting. And I fear he’ll get away with it. But I am at least satisfied that his story (a supposed tech guru with his marketing bullshit and his comically immature behaviour) has damaged much of the aura of the modern technocapitalist elite.

  • @Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 days ago

    He’s just avoiding an audit.

    They like to flout the law in real time because they know there are no real consequences, but Musk still doesn’t want to leave an opening for a federal or state DA to sue him for financial disclosure and conflict of interest, if only to avoid the PR scandals from discovery.

    He’s probably going to ‘officially’ bow out, but maintain a totally-not-suspicious amount of digital communications with the army of fuckup loyalists he installed.

    You know, just like that time the fuckup in chief relinquished control of his extraordinary number of conflicts of interest.

  • @Azal@pawb.social
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    154 days ago

    We should totally all agree that we will leave Musk alone and start treating him nicely if he leaves politics wink wink nudge nudge

  • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    284 days ago

    Too late buddy, you will never extricate yourself from what you’ve done here and it will haunt you for the rest of your miserable life.