Washington – Washington (AP) – ELON ALMIZCLEThe richest person in the world and a key financial supporter of President Donald Trump, said Tuesday that he will spend “much less” on political campaigns, a reversion that could be a setback for Republicans before the middle of the middle of the period next year.
Musk revealed his decision through videoconference during a Bloomberg forum in Doha, Qatar. He talks about his possible disenchantment with politics after his tumultuous possession as Trump’s choice to lead the newly created Government efficiency department, that has remained well below its objectives to reduce federal expenditure. The musk has reduced its governmental role Spend more time in your businesses, including Tesla, which has seen an intense setback. Tesla reported a Great fall in profits In the first quarter.
“In terms of political spending, I will do much less in the future,” Musk said. When asked why, he replied that “I think I’ve done enough.”
Musk’s statement marks an investment of the course he had established during the 2024 campaign, when he was among the main political speakers, and immediately later.
Small musk At least $ 250 million Supporting Trump in the presidential campaign, as the main taxpayer to America Pac, a Super PAC that was active in advertising and financing door -to -door lusing groups in the seven most competitive states in the presidential elections of November.
Musk enjoyed advertising, campaigning with Trump sometimes and leading some of his own campaign demonstrations on behalf of the republican party candidate.
And while credit was given to help Trump return to the White House, Musk suffered a public defeat in April, after he became deeply involved in A Supreme Court of Wisconsin Campaign. The groups backed by musk America PAC and the reconstruction of the future of the United States spent more than $ 21 million in the April 1 elections in support of the candidate backed by Republicans Brad Schimel.
But Schimel’s defeat for 10 percentage points in Wisconsin, a state that Trump took only five months before, was a coup for Musk, who campaigned by Schimel in Green Bay on the weekend before the elections and also promised to enforce Trump’s agenda in the mid -period elections of 2026.
A week after Trump’s November victory, Musk said the Political Action Committees that they supported “would play an important role in the primaries,” and added later that he could help finance the Republican challengers to the members of the Republican Congress who did not support Trump’s nominees.
“What other ways? There is no other way,” Musk wrote in X, which he resigned after buying Twitter, in response to the suggestion of supporting intraparty challenges.
An advisor to the PAC of Musk declined to comment on Tuesday.
Once Trump assumed the position, Musk played an outstanding role as an advisor and leader of Doge. He and his acolytes in the department were widely fueled throughout the federal government to promulgate deep cuts to the workforce and spending, in some cases that sought to close entire agencies completely.
Dege has pressed to fire tens of thousands of workers in reducing customization in agencies, from IRS to health and human services, and pressed tens of thousands more to take the purchase and offers of early retirement. And they sought to close agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and the Office of Financial Protection of the Consumer.
With the support of Doge, the agencies have canceled tens of thousands of government contracts and subsidies that say they do not align with the priorities of the administration. Some of those movements became so fast that they had to be reversed after rejection or judicial decisions to find that they were illegal.
Critics say it is equivalent to an reckless approach to Savia de Cadena that could destroy a large part of the Nation’s Civil Service, harm vulnerable populations services and stop critical research.
Doge states in his “receipt wall” has saved approximately $ 170 billion, but those savings numbers have been It is shown that it is defective and inflated In many cases.
Musk’s role caused an intense rejection, including protests in your electric vehicle companyTesla. Speaking to journalists earlier this month while preparing to step back from Doge, Musk pointed to the reaction.
“Being boundless is not super fun,” he said. “Seeing the cars are not fun,” he added, referring to the instances of Tesla’s cars that break or fire.
Musk’s announced intention to step back from political spending is produced during multiple commercial opportunities, including a Treatment to organize the latest versions of its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok in Microsoft data centers.
Meanwhile, your Neuralink brain interface company is planning to implement your experimental devices In dozen more people and their company of electric vehicles, Tesla is developing A humanoid robot That musk hopes to send Mars someday.
Musk could change his mind about campaign spending. The 2026 medium -term campaigns are taking off, while some candidates have not yet announced their candidacy for elections that remain 18 months away.
But until Tuesday, Musk said he didn’t expect.
“Well, if I see a reason to make political expenses in the future, I will,” Musk said. “I don’t see a reason currently.”
—————————————————————————————— Beaumont informed from Des Moines, Iowa. Foley reported from the city of Iowa, Iowa. Ali Swenson and Jill Colvin in New York City contributed to this report.
