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Elon Musk has said he intends to cut back on his political spending in the future, saying he now feels that he has “done enough.”
Addressing the Bloomberg-hosted Qatar Economic Forum via videolink on Tuesday, the world’s richest man revealed his plans to rein in his political ambitions going forward, telling his audience: “I’m going to do a lot less in the future.”
Asked why by the moderator, Musk responded: “I think I’ve done enough. If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason.”
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The billionaire donated at least $288m to Trump’s campaign war chest last year and has gone on to lead his newly-founded Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has sacked thousands of federal workers and cut millions of dollars in funding to U.S. projects and initiatives in the interest of slashing excess expenditure, waste and fraud.
Those moves by DOGE have attracted considerable opposition and Musk’s electric car business Tesla has borne much of the brunt of public anger, with its dealerships targeted by vandals and arsonists that the Trump administration has branded “domestic terrorists” and its profits declining by 71 percent in the first quarter after it lost ground in key markets like California, Germany and China.
Musk addressed these issues in a separate interview with Bloomberg at the forum on Tuesday, issuing a threat against those who had targeted Tesla.
“The massive violence that was committed against my company and threatened against me […] Who are these people? They’re on the wrong side of history. What’s wrong with these people? I’ve not harmed anyone,” Musk told journalist Mishal Husain. “Those people will be going to prison, and the people who also funded them are going to prison. Don’t worry, we’re coming for you.
“We’ve lost some sales on the left, but we’ve gained them on the right. Our stock wouldn’t be trading near all-time highs if things weren’t in all good shape. All is fine. Don’t worry about it.”
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Musk’s alliance with Trump has also been questioned given that the president’s trade war threatens Tesla’s supply chain, which relies heavily on the free movement of imports from countries like China and Mexico and because the company’s broader sustainability goals appear to be at odds with the president’s pro-fossil fuel ideology of “drill baby drill.”
For his part, Musk has attempted to reassure company shareholders and staff that his political operations have no bearing on Tesla’s results.
“I think people really care about the quality of the product as opposed to whether they agree or disagree with the CEO’s views,” he told the forum. “The CEO of any given company is going to have political views. At the end of the day, what matters is if Tesla makes a great product, and people like buying great products.”
But he also told his fellow investors in an April earnings call that, beginning this month, the amount of time he spent on DOGE would “drop significantly” to allow him to refocus his energies on Tesla, SpaceX and X, implicitly acknowledging that the demands of Washington were beginning to take their toll.
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Earlier this month, Musk and Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm both reacted angrily to a Wall Street Journal report alleging that the carmaker was in the process of headhunting a new CEO.
Denholm called the story “absolutely false” and said: “The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”
The Big Tech mogul was asked again at the Qatar event if he was “committed to still being the chief executive of Tesla” in five years’ time.
He answered simply: “Yes.”
