He shot onto the political scene seemingly out of nowhere.
However Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, made his presence recognized briefly time.
After buying Twitter in 2022 and wading into the controversial politics of free speech and misinformation, Musk’s first massive transfer was to dump greater than $50 million of his personal money right into a darkish cash political motion committee referred to as Residents for Sanity, which ran advertisements selling conservative tradition battle causes.
Then, he helped bankroll Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ill-fated 2024 presidential run to the tune of $10 million.
When DeSantis’ marketing campaign collapsed, Musk went all-in for Donald Trump, showing with him at rallies and selling his falsehoods and conspiracy theories to anybody who would hear.
It could be a helpful relationship, he was betting. If Trump received, Musk might depend on Trump to create favorable working circumstances for his many companies, from SpaceX to Tesla, Neuralink to X.
Trump, for his half, would get assist from his favourite form of individual — a rich one — and boy did he.
By the top of the 2024 cycle, Musk would spend $288 million to assist elect Trump and different Republicans.
After the election, Musk was rewarded with a soft put up within the West Wing close to Trump and a lofty new place — overseeing a Division of Authorities Effectivity.
After which he was seemingly all over the place.
He was within the Oval Workplace, main spontaneous press conferences in his black MAGA hat and T-shirt.
He was sitting for Fox Information interviews together with his DOGE crew and posting controversial takes on social media.
He was at CPAC, the conservative conference, ridiculously wielding a chainsaw.
He was so seen, in truth, many had been collectively questioning, “Who’s operating the nation — Trump or Musk?”
That appears like years in the past.
Musk is now quietly exiting the scene he as soon as dominated, his fame torn to shreds.
In accordance with a brand new ABC Information/Washington Put up/Ipsos ballot, simply 35% of Individuals stated they approve of his job efficiency for the Trump administration.
Tesla’s Q1 report was abysmal, with earnings down 34.89%.
His acquisition of Twitter noticed a subsequent improve in hate speech and misinformation, with former customers complaining that it’s now only a platform for MAGA, trolls, and bots.
His political affect appears to have waned as effectively. He backed a Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom candidate, even showing in Inexperienced Bay sporting a cheesehead hat and handing out checks for $1 million to supporters. His candidate ended up dropping by 10 factors, his $19 million summarily rebuked by voters.
As CNN’s Harry Enten put it, “he grew to become political Kryptonite.”
It’s even unclear if his signature mission, DOGE, was a hit. Whereas he laid off upward of 280,000 federal staff — which hardly endeared him to voters — the division promised to search out $2 trillion in financial savings by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
DOGE, nevertheless, in all its handy secrecy, has solely publicly reported a small quantity of cuts. DOGE can be being sued by a number of our bodies.
Moreover, a damning Senate report alleged that Musk might find yourself personally avoiding as much as $2 billion in authorized legal responsibility stemming from DOGE.
Now out of the West Wing, Musk is making an attempt to wash up what’s left of his fame. And he’s criticizing the person and the administration with whom he was as soon as so cozy.
“DOGE is simply changing into the whipping boy for every part,” he complained to the Washington Put up. “So, like, one thing dangerous would occur wherever, and we might get blamed for it even when we had nothing to do with it.”
In an upcoming interview with “CBS Information Sunday Morning,” he additionally slams Trump’s “Huge, Stunning Invoice.”
“You realize, I used to be, like, dissatisfied to see the huge spending invoice, frankly, which will increase the finances deficit, not lower it, and undermines the work the DOGE crew is doing.”
And, “I feel a invoice will be massive or it may be stunning. However I don’t know if it may be each. My private opinion.”
However Trump doesn’t appear to care what Musk’s private opinion of the invoice is. He’s a love ’em and depart ’em form of man, and Musk is clearly being dumped.
In a transparent signal of his dwindling utility, his subsequent transfer at DOGE, far much less grandiose than his preliminary one, shall be to modernize the federal authorities’s computer systems.
It’s a humiliating finish to what was usually a humiliating tenure as a wannabe political determine. Many in Trump’s internal circle, with whom he usually had confrontations, are glad he’s gone.
To make sure, Musk nonetheless has an ungodly amount of cash and an inarguably important political win below his belt with the re-election of Trump. Nevertheless it all got here at an enormous value to his fame.
In with a bang, out with a whimper.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
