Republicans Breathe Easier as Musk Leaves Town
Author: Greg Valliere
June 3, 2025
REPUBLICANS WE’VE TALKED WITH over the last few weeks were virtually unanimous on the subject of Elon Musk. They are relieved; he was becoming an albatross for the party.
MUSK’S DRUG USE WAS BECOMING A CONCERN: The Wall Street Journal first reported, in January of 2024, about Musk’s extensive use of hallucinogens, and the New York Times reported last weekend that he has an unusual lifestyle — with at least 14 children.
MUSK EITHER REFUSED TO COMMENT or was unabashed about his drug use — which, according to the Journal, was taken for granted in Silicon Valley, where anything goes.
WE GENERALLY DON’T CARE ABOUT POLITICIANS’ HABITS, but Musk crossed the line by committing a more serious sin in this town — he was a drag on Donald Trump’s polling numbers. The image of Musk with a chainsaw may have been an amusing metaphor for spending cuts, but Republicans on Capitol Hill cringed and his mass firings lost support.
MUSK CAME TO WASHINGTON LATE LAST YEAR with a stunning goal: he pledged to cut spending by at least $2 trillion over ten years. He wound up with less than $200 billion, a rounding error in a budget dominated by untouchable entitlement spending.
BUDGET DEFICITS WILL GROW and Musk will continue to criticize the “Beautiful Bill,” which could add $4 trillion to the deficit. Musk loves publicity and will be outspoken this summer about his “disappointment” over the bill, which is on thin ice.
REPUBLICANS ON CAPITOL HILL WERE increasingly concerned by Musk’s unfettered access to the White House. He never won a security clearance or congressional approval — raising the issue of his access to the president.
BUT MUSK IS THE WORLD’S RICHESET PERSON, a brilliant maverick who realized that his company needed him back on the job. And Trump was getting an earful from his adoring supporters. Musk had to go — did he jump or was he pushed? More revelations to come, we suspect.
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