“He is finished.” Elon Musk disappeared. “We went too far”
At Truth Social, where Trump is known for sharing his uncensored opinions, the president remembered Musk every few days, but now he has not published any post for over a month. The organization collecting funds for Trump largely ceased sending e-mails in which the name of the General Director of Tesla appeared. The surname of the billionaire, once a permanent element of briefing in the White House, is almost not mentioned at all. Even members of the Congress basically removed it from their newsletters.
This is an amazing change for a man who at the beginning of the second term of Trump was almost a shadow of the American president. Musk was in an oval office, at the office of the office and on board Air Force One. He was at the inauguration, and then at the Gallery of the House of Representatives during Trump's first speech to Congress, where Trump praised his hard work. He posed with the president and a row of Tesla cars on the lawn in front of the White House.
Everything indicates that the presence of Musk in Washington is coming to an end. – We went too far – even Senator Jim Justice admits, Trump's leading ally.
In the rapidly changing second term of Trump, Musk's monopoly on political discourse, relations in the media and social media seems to be broken – partly due to the fact that Trump and Republicans practically stopped talking about it.
“I miss him,” says Republican Senator John Neely Kennedy openly.
At the beginning of last month, the Republicans also lost important judicial elections in Wisconsin, where Musk became both the main sponsor and the subject of the campaign. In Washington, the activities of the Muska Government Performance Department are continued to cut costs, but they went down to the further political plan in connection with the customs and the fight for the budget.
The question about him, the Republicans are still positive about him. It is not without reason – because they want his huge fortune, the army of supporters and the machine of influence on the Internet to support them in their future elections. Kennedy argues that Musk's withdrawal will not have “any significance” for the mid -term elections (Midterm Elections). Others argue that the best way to help the party is to move to the side track in the election campaign before the election in 2026.
“These popularity polls show that Elon is doing great when he is inside,” says David Mcntosh, general director of the conservative Club for Growth. – Let's hope that he will stay there for a long time, but will not take the role of a deputy in the campaign – he adds.
However, the General Director of Tesla, who has a huge number of supporters on his Social Platform X, is unlikely to disappear completely – and Democrats say they can still use it as a scare. Musk became such a powerful enemy of the left that Democrats are still going to use it before this year's elections in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as in next year's complementary elections. And although the Republicans are less likely to put him in the foreground, they do not completely withdraw from support for him.
“Ultimately, it wasn't about Elon Musk, but about Elonism,” explains Jesse Ferguson, a strategist of democrats. – He wrote their script and it is not about theoretical blame, but about the actual damage that he and Trump caused and which will be the subject of disputes throughout the entire intraosteries – he adds.
When asked about the falling popularity of Musk in Trump's statements and whether the general director of the technology company is a political burden, the White House did not mention directly about the muscles.
– Doge mission – limiting waste, fraud and abuse – will certainly be continued. Doge employees who have been employed in the relevant agencies will continue to cooperate with the office of President Trump to increase the efficiency of our government – says Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
It's not just about Trump. The president's closest advisor, as well as the official accounts of the White House, also mostly ceased to publish photos and content in which Musk appears.
Trump also no longer uses Musk's name to raise funds. In February, his team dealing with collecting funds almost every day recalled Musk in e-mail to online supporters-which was a sign that Tesla's general director was an attractive topic for them to obtain donations from the online base of Trump's supporters. “
However, at the beginning of March, the mention of the muscus in appeals for fundraising of funds suddenly ceased to appear. Since then, Trump has only sent one message regarding the collection of funds in which he mentioned the musc-in an e-mail with May advertising the “Gulf of America” hat, which was tried by the general director of Tesla.
Some Republicans began to perceive Musk as politically toxic, which Democrats try to use.
First of all, there are polls: voters are much less favorable to Musk than Trump. Compared to the situation from a few months ago, support for President Tesla fell in most groups, including among independent voters and people without higher education.
A survey conducted by Navigator Research at the beginning of this spring showed that Doge's activity becomes less popular when she is associated with Muskand the survey conducted by Data for Progress at the end of April showed that Most voters want Musk to leave the president's office At the end of the 130-day period of performing the function of a special employee, which is to expire at the end of May-or even earlier.
“Public opinion supported efforts to put the end of the waste in Washington, but did not support the way it was done,” explains Frank Luntz, a interviewer on behalf of the Republican party. “His mission of limiting waste in Washington was certainly helpful, but the language he used, not anymore.”
Senator Jim Justice, Trump's leading ally, says that Musk is a “patriot” and “really tries to devote his time and do a lot of good.” He admits, however, that the head of Doge has been exposed to many people.
– We went too far. We went too far – he points out. – We just adapt. This is the process.
In Wisconsin, the Democrats put Musk at the head of the elections to the Supreme Court in April, taking advantage of the fact that Tesla's general director was the main donor of the conservative candidate and appeared in the state to run the campaign. The race became a referendum not only over the broadly understood Trump administration, but specifically over Musk. Judge Susan Crawford – a liberal candidate who published an advertisement accusing Musk of an attempt to “buy” a place in court – won 10 points in a state in which Trump in November last year. He won with a small advantage.
– says an anonymous activist of the Republican party who agreed to a sincere statement. He went to Wisconsin, thinking that he could buy people's voices, put on a hat with cheese and behave like a nine -year -old, but it doesn't work. It's offensive to people.
In addition to potential political fears, Musk's departure from the attention center is reflected in the rapidly changing priorities in the first months of Trump's presidency. In the first months there was a dog cut in the foreground. And although these activities are continued, some of the attention was focused on other Trump's initiatives, including shocking duties and controversial deportations.
Elon Musk is still powerful
Although Musk's popularity has fallen, this does not mean that it does not have access to influential people or influence them. Last week he was one of the directors of general technology companies who joined Trump in Saudi Arabia, where he hugged the country's leaders and appeared at the investment forum.
This is one of the reasons that makes the democrats not feel too worried. Musk remains for Democrats a figure they can use, but in the context of Trump and Republicans who enabled him – says CJ Warnke, spokesman for the organ dealing with the elections to the Congress. Issues that replaced Musk as a dominant topic in messages, such as potential cuts in Medicaid and Claus, are still beneficial to democrats – he adds.
In the elections to the Supreme Court, Wisconsin several ads supporting Crawford focused mainly or exclusively on the muscles, and for some time democrats sometimes remembered Musk – but not Trump – in social media and statements.
The president of Tesla is still regularly mentioned in the announcements of Democrats candidates for Congress, from Pennsylvania to Illinois and California, both in safe and hesitating constituencies. Of the six democrats competing in the governorates in New Jersey on June 10, four mentioned Musk in television advertising.
But In recent commercials we do not see Musk presented as the main villain. In the last weeks of the campaign, when the ads flood New Jersey, the spots remembering Muska usually show him next to Trump. A few of them remember him casually or show him on the screen for a while – he is not the main character.
