'Look at the numbers': Why Trump’s 'silver bullet spender' is back on the sidelines
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defense shield in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
With billionaire Elon Musk ratcheting down his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Tesla/SpaceX/X.com leader and Donald Trump ally is saying he plans to cut back on political spending — at least for the time being.
"In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future ...,” Musk said.
CNN's Pamela Brown discussed Musk's decision with colleague Hadas Gold at a May 21 broadcast. Brown noted Musk's refusal to rule out all future political spending.
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"He keeps the door open. But it's stunning to hear from the man who spent more than $290 million in 2024 to help elect President Trump and other Republicans and then … spent millions more on that Wisconsin judge's race to now say: You know what? I'm done.” Gold responded.
Musk’s recent attempt to sway a Wisconsin Supreme Court race with millions of dollars in donations instead landed a decisive victory for his opponent's liberal candidate. When asked if he was stepping back as a result of “blowback” Musk assured “if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason.”
Gold said she suspected “many Republicans” hearing the news will hate to see him go knowing there is a reason they have a very slim majority in congress, and they might prefer his financial help "in the midterms."
Musk’s face, however, may be a liability to the Republican brand.
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“[W]e can just look at the numbers. First of all, we can look at the approval ratings for Elon Musk. If you look at his approval ratings in polls back in February, his disapproval rating was at 49%. In just a couple of months, it jumped up to 57%, whereas his approval rating did not move at all. And his work in Washington has affected not only his personal approval ratings, but we've seen it affect Tesla's share price as well,” Gold reported.
She added that a source close to Musk has said “Elon has too many ‘asks’ coming to him and everyone sees him as a silver bullet spender,” but his announcement is “a message to the market and his shareholders.”
“And as we saw from Tesla's share price right now, Tesla prices have gone up ever since Musk stepped back [from government],” Gold said.
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