Why Elon Musk wants to withdraw from politics

Musk is gradually giving up his political ambitions after a tumultuous year. Photo: Bloomberg .

The world's richest man has just announced that he will be "maximizing focus" on his companies after a series of incidents at social network X. Sharing in a post on X last week, Musk wrote: "Back to working 24/7, sleeping in conference rooms, server rooms and factories. I have to be hyper-focused on X, xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we are deploying key technologies."

According to DownDetector, X users experienced multiple access issues on May 23-24. X’s engineering team confirmed the issue stemmed from a data center issue. “X’s outage this week shows that major operational changes are needed,” Musk admitted.

Tesla plummets, Musk's credit rating drops sharply

Musk’s return to the tech industry comes after a tumultuous and highly criticized year in politics, according to Bloomberg . The world’s richest man founded DOGE to implement massive budget and staff cuts, spending at least $288 million on the 2024 election.

But this week, in the face of a public backlash and negative repercussions for his company, Musk put an end to that phase. “I think I’ve done enough,” he said at the Qatar Economic Forum.

People close to Musk told the Washington Post that after a year immersed in politics, he felt frustrated by the high personal costs and the difficulty in measuring the actual effects.

Musk is also concerned about the safety of himself and his family, following a series of incidents at Tesla facilities including protests, vandalism, petrol bombs and even shootings. Another important factor is the serious decline in personal and business image.

According to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released last month, only 35% of Americans approved of Musk’s performance in the Trump administration, while 57% disapproved. Tesla also suffered heavy losses. First-quarter 2025 profits fell 71% compared to the same period last year. Sales plunged by double digits.

Musk’s top priority now is to get back to Tesla, because he believes the future lies in autonomous technology. Tesla is expected to unveil a fully autonomous car in June in Austin, Texas. The car is a Model Y, a mid-size sedan. Musk claims that passengers will experience driverless transportation.

For Tesla, he called 2025 a “defining moment” as the company prepares to launch its first fully autonomous vehicle in June in Austin. Photo: Bloomberg.

In parallel, the CEO is also focusing on Cybercab, an electric car with no steering wheel and no pedals. He describes it as a “ $30,000 mobile living room.” Cybercab was introduced last year and is expected to launch in the next few years.

Tesla is still under intense scrutiny, however. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent a letter asking the electric carmaker to explain how it will evaluate autonomous technologies before deploying them on public roads.

Internally, some Tesla employees have also begun to openly express their dissatisfaction with Musk. Matthew LaBrot, a director who has worked at Tesla for more than five years, believes that Musk's negative image is holding back the company's sales, not his lack of presence in the company.

LaBrot was fired last month after creating a website calling for Musk to resign. “He implied that Tesla was failing without him, but that’s not true. We’re dealing with a storm of his own making,” LaBrot said.

Musk wants to focus all his efforts on Tesla and SpaceX

Along with Tesla, Musk is also accelerating SpaceX. Next week, he will visit Starbase - SpaceX's rocket facility in South Texas - to present his "plan to conquer Mars". SpaceX is also preparing for the next test launch of the world's largest and most powerful rocket, Starship, after two previous tests ended in explosions.

While Musk was absorbed in politics, SpaceX maintained a high operating pace under the direct leadership of President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell.

The company has launched 1,000 satellites into orbit for its Starlink internet network since the beginning of the year. The Trump administration has opened up more opportunities for Starlink to provide internet in rural America and abroad.

But pressure is mounting from NASA, which aims to return humans to the moon by 2027, before China does. NASA has invested about $4 billion in the Starship project.

The goal is to send astronauts to and from the surface of the Moon. To achieve this, SpaceX must overcome a series of technical challenges such as safely launching spacecraft into orbit, transporting people, and especially refueling in space. This is something that no one has ever successfully done.

Under Gwynne Shotwell's leadership, SpaceX has remained stable while Musk has been absorbed in politics. Photo: Washington Post .

Musk's long-term goal remains Mars, according to the Washington Post . He hopes to send a fleet of unmanned Starships to the Red Planet in 2026, when the two planets are closest to each other in their orbits.

According to people close to him, the Mars ambition is one of the biggest reasons that prompted Musk to return to SpaceX, to directly direct the development of Starship and ensure the rapid growth rate that is characteristic of the company.

But Musk’s departure from politics could be a major blow to the Republican Party. PAC America, a political organization backed by Musk, has played a key role in the campaign, especially in the final stretch of the 2024 campaign, deploying thousands of volunteers to knock on doors in battleground states to lobby for Trump and other Republican candidates.

“The long-standing assumption is that Musk will continue to serve in that role through the 2026 midterms and into 2028,” said a person with knowledge of the PAC. “If he does drop out, the party will be scrambling to find a replacement.”

Source: https://znews.vn/elon-musk-muon-rut-khoi-chinh-truong-post1555623.html