Elon Musk has completed his term as a special government employee, leaving behind a legacy that goes beyond the billions in savings he helped generate. Over his 130 days in the Trump administration, Musk became one of the most hated men on the political Left, while also playing a key role in reshaping economic policy.
I use the word “legacy” because this marks the end of a unique chapter for the Tesla CEO, one that will leave substantial and long-lasting changes for the government. But it’s important to note that, now that he’s leaving the administration, a new phase begins: one where Musk will have even more influence and complete freedom to speak his mind.
In recent days, he’s taken to X to call President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” a “disgusting abomination,” urging people to pressure their representatives and senators to vote against it and “kill the bill!”
Musk can reach millions of people in just seconds with a single post on X. He now has firsthand knowledge of how the government works and has seen, from the inside, many of the most broken and corrupt parts of the bureaucracy. Without a doubt, he will continue to wield influence over members of Congress and public opinion at large.
Most of the legacy media have tried to portray Musk’s role in the Trump administration as a failure, pointing out that he did not reach his initial $1 trillion savings goal. But Musk’s contribution goes far beyond the $175 billion in cuts achieved through the Department of Government Efficiency. He succeeded in helping millions of Americans grasp the scale of government inefficiency and waste. He also laid the groundwork for several key government offices to operate far more efficiently thanks to technological improvements.
Musk highlighted a critical flaw in the U.S. government’s infrastructure: Its computer systems don’t communicate with one another. As a result, absurd situations arise such as loans being approved for infants or deceased individuals simply because the official processing the request lacks access to basic data such as the recipient’s age. Musk’s revolution is about spending, but it’s so effective because at its core, it’s a technological revolution.
Even before taking on his role as a special government employee, he made clear that what he needed was access to the systems because his approach to tracking spending wouldn’t follow the usual path. Instead of asking government officials, who would ask their staff, who would then ask their teams — creating an endless chain just to investigate a single issue — Musk went straight to the systems. That meant saving time, but more importantly, it meant getting to the exact data.
Perhaps Musk’s greatest achievement was bringing the government’s wastefulness into the spotlight for millions of Americans. Politicians have long told people that taxes and government spending are necessary to help those in need. However, the reality is that much of the money taken from Americans’ pockets goes to maintaining a vast and inefficient bureaucracy or funding senseless projects such as experiments to make mice transgender, one of many illogical expenses highlighted thanks to Musk.
The Left hates Musk for many reasons, and its criticism is often ruthless and largely unfounded. Musk is a former Democrat who reminds people that the party has lost its common sense. Moreover, the Tesla CEO was for years a hero among liberal environmentalists, who now have to watch their former star become a member of the Republican Party. Adding to all this, Musk has an indomitable character; Democrats are upset with him not only because of his ideas but also because of the boldness with which he acts and speaks.
MUSK CALLS FOR REPUBLICANS TO ‘KILL’ TRUMP’S ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL
Fortunately for Americans, the Democrats are wrong about Musk. The Tesla CEO not only achieved $175 billion in cuts, which is no small feat, but, more importantly, he has laid the groundwork for a technological revolution that could have a huge impact on government efficiency and has placed the issue of spending cuts at the center of the country’s political debates.
The best part is that he will continue to do so. Neither Democratic nor Republican criticism will deter him. Just as he never stopped fighting to keep Tesla afloat when it was repeatedly on the brink of bankruptcy, and just as he bought Twitter, now X, knowing he would likely lose money, but driven by a commitment to defending free speech, Musk won’t stop now.
Vanessa Vallejo (@vanessavallej0) is an economist and political analyst for various Hispanic media outlets.