Volkswacht Bodensee - Elon Musk's rocket-fueled ride with Trump flames out

The world's richest man parted ways with the world's most powerful man on Wednesday amid increasing disillusion with his controversial cost-cutting role.

South African-born Musk had shown growing signs of frustration with the obstacles faced by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as it tried to slash its way through the federal bureaucracy.

Once a fixture at Trump's side, dressed in the Republican president's signature T-shirts and baseball caps, the right-wing tech tycoon had already been taking a more backseat role to focus on his Space X and Tesla businesses.

And the end of one of the most extraordinary -- and criticized -- experiments in US political history earned little fanfare from the White House.

Trump himself stayed silent. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday: "We thank him for his service."

Leavitt insisted that DOGE's work would continue, adding: "The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president's Cabinet and the president himself."

Perhaps the most fulsome tribute came from Katie Miller, a DOGE advisor and the wife of Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who posted an earlier quote from Musk saying: "DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism."

- Rocket-like rise -

The 53-year-old Musk's rise in Trump's orbit was as rapid as one of the Space X rockets with which he hopes to start the human colonization of the planet Mars.

Already a confidant since becoming the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 election campaign, Musk defied predictions that two such big egos could never get along.

DOGE launched onto the scene with a rampage through the US government, as young tech wizards who slept in White House offices cut tens of thousands of jobs and shuttered whole departments.

Critics dubbed Musk the "co-president" and before long, his imposing figure was almost overshadowing the reality TV president himself.

The tycoon appeared with his young son X on his shoulders during his first press conference in the Oval Office, and in the first feverish weeks, Musk was a far more frequent presence by Trump's side than First Lady Melania Trump.

They rode on Air Force One and Marine One together. They watched cage fights together. Musk stayed in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom and Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump himself remained publicly loyal to the man he called a "genius," despite his reputation as someone who hates to share the spotlight.

One day, the president even turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla dealership after protesters targeted Musk's electric car business.

- 'Got into fights' -

Yet the socially awkward tech magnate also struggled to get a grip on the realities of US politics.

The beginning of the end "started (in) mid-March when there were several meetings in the Oval Office and in the cabinet room where basically Elon Musk got into fights," Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution told AFP.

The magnitude of the task facing DOGE began to weigh on the tycoon.

The impact on Musk's businesses also began to hit home. A series of Space X launches ended in fiery failures, while Tesla shareholders pushed him to spend more time at the company.

Finally, Musk showed the first signs of distance from Trump himself, saying he was "disappointed" in Trump's recent mega spending bill and complaining that DOGE had become a "whipping boy."

Musk also said he would pull back from spending time on politics.

His last public appearance with Trump to date was in the Oval Office a week ago, when the US president ambushed his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa with claims of the "genocide" of white farmers, a theory pushed by Musk himself.

Standing next to reporters, Musk stared at the South African leader -- but maintained a stony silence.

But Musk's departure might not be the end of the story, said Kamarck.

"I think they genuinely like each other and I think Musk has a lot of money that he can contribute to campaigns if he is so moved. I think there will be a continued relation, just not the one we saw," she said.

P.Staeheli--VB