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Elon Musk waves to the crowd as he exits the stage during a town hall on Sunday, March 30, 2025, at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, Wis.
Is Elon Musk on his way out?
Donald Trump is reportedly telling people that he and Elon Musk have agreed that Musk’s work in the US government will soon be done. Politico’s story broke just as Musk seems to have discovered the electoral limits of his charm.
Musk, who has been leading a contentious push to cut spending with his Department of Government Efficiency, is becoming less popular, which is taking a toll on his electric automobile company, Tesla.
Musk’s money and organizational support helped get Trump elected, but the billionaire hit a political wall in Wisconsin on Tuesday when Democrats easily won a state supreme court contest that he had said was important “for the future of civilization.” Musk and allies spent $20 million and gave out two $1-million checks in a lottery-style giveaway to boost the Republican vote. The Tesla CEO even attended a rally in a cheesehead hat, but the Democrats still won, keeping their majority on the court.
The departure of Musk, whose wide-ranging cuts have been cheered by some Republicans but booed by others, could remove an irritant with voters who object to Musk’s layoffs and firings. But he and Trump are expected to remain political allies even after Musk leaves the government, in part because Trump will want his money and organizational help in the midterms.German police forcibly dispersed a pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Berlin expels protesters, French judge gets protection, US disaster aid slows to a trickle, Tesla slumps, Haiti’s anarchy continues, Adams finds his independence, Hungary to leave ICC
4: Berlin’s immigration authorities have ordered three EU citizens and one American to leave Germany by April 21 or face deportation following accusations that the four had committed antisemitic acts in support of terrorism. In a joint statement, the four accused Berlin authorities of trying to “silence pro-Palestinian voices.” Officials say the expulsion was connected to protests at Berlin’s Free University during which “a violent, masked group of individuals” caused “significant property damage.”
90: The head of a three-judge panel that barred far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running in France’s 2027 presidential election this week has been placed under police protection following death threats and the online publication of her home address. A poll published Monday found that more than half of French respondents say Le Pen got a fair trial, while nearly 90% of her National Rally supporters say the court treated her more harshly than other politicians.
2 million: In 2023, Washington sent 225 US Agency for International Development workers and $185 million to Turkey and Syria for relief and recovery efforts following a devastating earthquake. President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk is currently finalizing plans to shut down the USAID, and the US State Department announced on Monday that a team of three people and a donation of $2 million to humanitarian organizations working in Myanmar are headed for the site of a 7.7-magnitude quake last Friday.
13: Tesla, the electric vehicle maker led by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that its global sales for the first three months of 2025 fell 13% from the same period last year. Musk’s controversial role in Donald Trump’s White House and his public advocacy for far-right parties and politicians in Europe likely contributed to the slump.
500: Haiti’s violent chaos continues. On Tuesday, gang members stormed the town of Mirebalais, 30 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, and freed about 500 prison inmates. The UN says that gang violence killed more than 5,600 people in Haiti last year.
3,750: New York City Mayor Eric Adams has confirmed that he will seek reelection as an independent rather than a Democrat. He must collect 3,750 signatures by May 27 to make it onto the November ballot. It’s been quite a week for Adams: A judge dismissed the criminal corruption case against the mayor on Wednesday, and his party switch was announced Thursday morning.
3: Hungary is set to become the third country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, following the path of Burundi and the Philippines. Viktor Orban’s government announced the move on Thursday amid a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the ICC over alleged war crimes.
What are Elon Musk's real goals with DOGE?
Elon Musk is the world’s richest man by far. He runs multiple companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, and X (formerly Twitter), with business interests all over the world. So why would the tech billionaire want to spend so much of his time focused on the complicated and often tedious work of overhauling the federal government through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)? On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer talks with WIRED Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond about Musk's outsize role in the Trump administration and what's really motivating his work with DOGE. Is Musk simply applying his Silicon Valley mindset to Washington, aiming to cut costs and automate bureaucracy? Or is there a more profound ideological mission driving him? Drummond and Bremmer unpack Musk’s close relationship with Trump, his political shift to the right, and why the billionaire entrepreneur has become so entrenched in the day-to-day operations of the US government.
“Everything we have seen from the way Elon Musk runs his companies, he really does believe in stripping out cost, and he believes in moving as quickly as possible,” Drummond explains, “But there is this ideological underpinning to all of this where it seems like he wants to see the United States and the world take a harder right turn.”
Watch the full episode: The rise of Elon Musk's DOGE under Trump
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
The rise of Elon Musk's DOGE under Trump
If you ask the individuals working for DOGE, if you ask Elon Musk, they're doing the right thing. They are undertaking a revolution to save the United States,” Drummond says, “If you ask any of the civil servants or the federal workers who've lost their jobs, there is a deep sense of concern, of dread that this revolutionary effort will destroy so much of what powers this country.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Will the Trump-Musk relationship last?
How long will President Donald Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk last? The alliance has so far defied predictions from the left (and parts of the right) that a relationship between two famously impulsive and mercurial billionaires would eventually lead to conflict. Instead, Musk is everywhere in the Trump administration—attending cabinet meetings, shaking hands with world leaders, smiling in the Oval Office. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has embedded itself across nearly every federal agency. In many ways, the relationship is mutually beneficial: Musk has an almost limitless checkbook to bankroll Trump’s political operations, and DOGE is helping him deliver on a campaign pledge to “shatter” the deep state. Meanwhile, Musk has become the most powerful person in Washington, not named Trump. But the president also has a history of discarding allies when they are no longer valuable and many of his close advisors have become his harshest critics. So, can the Trump-Musk alliance survive for the long haul, or is it destined to go up in flames?
Watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television this weekend (check local listings) and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
Public Health nurse Lauri Bidinot demonstrates how to give a measles shot to a young girl at Southwestern Public Health in St. Thomas, Ontario, on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Measles on the rise, Tariffs drive steel layoffs, US consumer confidence drops, Tesla targeting investigated
100,000: US President Donald Trump’s 25% steel and aluminum tariffs, in place since March 12, have triggered hundreds of layoffs in Canada in the metal workers sector, with more expected to come. Marty Warren, national director of the United Steelworkers, says that 100,000 jobs are at risk for the union’s 225,000 members after “full-blown” tariffs hit on April 2.
92.9: The Conference Board’s US consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, short of its expected reading of 94.5 and its lowest level since January of 2021. Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business, and employment also plunged 9.6 points to 65.2, the lowest reading in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80, considered an indicator of a possible recession.
1,000: Police in Washington, DC, are offering a $1,000 reward for information about the recent defacing of Tesla vehicles in the city. A police statement also indicated that they are “investigating these offenses as potentially being motivated by hate or bias,” which is a broader category in DC than in most cities: “Political affiliation” is listed alongside race, sex, and religion as categories of bias for hate crimes and carries higher penalties than other crimes.Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro looks on during the confidence motion at the parliament in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 11, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Portugal will likely vote (again), US markets swoon, A breath of fresh air, Baloch militants seize train, Trump trumpets Tesla
3/4: Portugal’s parliament has voted no-confidence in Prime Minister Luis Montenegro over a planned parliamentary inquiry into his business dealings. The result: Portugal will probably hold its third election in less than four years. A poll published this week found the opposition Socialists with a small lead over the governing center-right party.
214: On Tuesday, armed insurgents, acting on behalf of a separatist group in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, attacked and boarded a packed passenger train near Quetta. The militants claimed they were holding 214 passengers hostage. But local police said the majority of the passengers were believed to be safe and that 35 had been taken hostage.
4 trillion: From its peak in February, a US stock market sell-off has wiped out $4 trillion from the S&P 500. Many economists blame the meltdown on the potential inflationary impact of President Donald Trump’s growing number of tariff threat
7: Only seven countries – Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia, and Iceland – met World Health Organization air quality standards last year, data showed on Tuesday. The smoggiest five were the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Chad, and India.
50: On Monday, shares in the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle maker Tesla were down more than 15% for the day and more than 50% from their peak three months ago. Shares recovered a bit on Tuesday, closing up 3.8%. Analysts place much of the blame for the losses on investors spooked by anti-Musk Tesla boycotts. In response, President Donald Trump pledged on Monday that he would buy a “brand new Tesla,” despite his past criticism of electric vehicles.
Talibans and their supporters gather in front of the American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 14, 2024, to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the take over. They decided to celebrate according to the Afghan calendar.
Hard Numbers: Taliban fires baby-faced cops, EU slaps tax on Tesla, Morocco pardons cannabis cultivators, Panama starts deportations, RFK Jr in signature scandal
281: Taliban security forces have found themselves in a hairy situation: 281 of them have been dismissed for failing to grow beards, which the fundamentalist religious group says is in accordance with Islamic laws. The crackdown came from Afghanistan’s morality ministry, which has detained more than 13,000 people for “immoral acts” over the last year.
19: The European Commission said Tuesday it will place a 19% tax on sales of Tesla automobiles manufactured in China — a steep surcharge, but far from the worst-case-scenario. Though the proposed tax is 9 percentage points higher than the levy applied to most foreign-made cars, it is far less than the 47% rate Brussels applies to Chinese EV manufacturers.
5,000: Legaliiiize it! Moroccan King Mohammed VIpardoned roughly 5,000 people convicted or wanted for illegal cannabis cultivation. Morocco is an odd bird in the weed world, as it is a major producer of marijuana, and cultivation, export, and medical use are all legal — but recreational use and cultivation for such use are not. The King hopes the pardons will encourage farmers to stick with legal cultivation efforts.
29: Panama on Monday began deporting undocumented migrants on US-funded flights, sending home 29 Colombians with criminal records. Panama and the US agreed in July to work together to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing northward through the perilous Darien Gap, which lies along the Colombia-Panama border.
110,000: Fringe presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in hot water in Arizona after the revelation that the 110,000 signatures meant to give him ballot access in that state were not collected by his own campaign. Rather, they were gathered by a PAC backing Kennedy, which may violate laws forbidding PACs and campaigns from coordinating.