Trump-Musk Bromance: From Endorsing US President To Quitting DOGE | A Timeline

The Trump-Musk bromance faced a glitch on Thursday as the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk announced departure from the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the end of his specified tenure after months of spearheading the department's endeavours to curtail and streamline federal spending.

Taking it to X, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted, 바카라�As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.바카라�

The term 'scheduled' finds meaning here as the White House earlier classified him as a "special government employee," with the title of a senior adviser to the president and allowed him to stay on the job for 130 calendar days a year, which technically ends this month. 

During the 2024 US presidential elections, Musk officially endorsed Trump. He also was the largest donor to bankroll his election campaign.

The tech billionaire also made appearances in Trump's poll campaigns before he assumed office for his second term as the US President and appointed Musk as his senior adviser .

Musk's announcement of departure notably came just a day after his first ever criticism of Trump during a CBS interview, where he said the President's signature "big, beautiful" spending bill increases budget deficit and undermines the DOGE team's work. "A bill can be big, or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion," Musk said.

Over the past one month, Musk has reportedly been scaling down his work at DOGE. Back in April, Trump also hinted at his possible exit and asserted that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would continue to operate without him from May onwards.

During a press conference, Trump told reporters, 바카라�I think he바카라�s amazing but I also think he바카라�s got a big company to run and so at some point he바카라�s going to be going back."

Here's a brief timeline of the key events that shaped the duo's relationship over time.

Trump-Musk Bromance: A Timeline

Musk, being one of the richest men in the world, played a crucial role in shaping the Republican narrative during 2024 presidential elections. However, Musk earlier also was in favour of the Democrats for decades and in fact supported Trump's rivals Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

However, the Musk-Biden relation went downwards in 2021 when Musk complained that his company Tesla wasn바카라�t invited to the White House바카라�s summit on the future of electric cars despite it selling 74 percent of all EVs in the country. They also had a significant difference of opinions in terms of policies, administration and supporting workers' unions.

From tweeting "I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset" in July 2022, Musk officially endorsed him for the President in 2024 on the same day Trump was shot in an attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and also joined Trump onstage at a rally at the site of his assassination attempt.

Returning Musk's electoral favour, Trump said he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by Musk if he wins the election.

Upon assuming the office for the second time, Trump announced that Musk and Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy would lead the new "Department of Government Efficiency", also known as "DOGE" which aimed to slash federal government spending.

Musk later also attended Trump's inauguration in Washington, D.C., and invited controversy owing to his one-armed salute that many interpreted s a Nazi-style gesture. He also visited the Oval Office with his young son, X when Trump signed an executive order directing significant reduction of the size of the government. Back in March, Trump also applauded Musk during his joint address to Congress for his work at DOGE.

However, the positive vibe shifted when Musk in May discussed stepping back from the agency. Earlier, the White House also stated that Musk was not formally a part of the DOGE team and he was serving as a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.

Amid the scaling down of his work at DOGE, what hinted at a possible rift between the two, Musk criticised Trump's signature "big, beautiful" spending bill at a CBS interview which, according to him, 'increased budget deficit and undermined the DOGE team's work'. A day after the criticism, Musk announced his departure from the DOGE.