Musk Suddenly Makes a Tough Statement: After Spending $250 Million on the Presidential Election, Is the Tech Tycoon Asking "Donors to Hold Back"?

At a sensitive moment when Tesla's stock price is fluctuating, the Silicon Valley Iron Man suddenly changes his tune. This tech mogul, who once spent $250 million to support Trump, revealed significant news in an exclusive interview with Fortune magazine yesterday: "From now on, I need to hold back on political donations!"

This abrupt change in attitude had been foreshadowed. As the head of the U.S. Government Efficiency Department (DOGE), Musk confidently stated last year that he would help the federal government save $2 trillion, but now that figure has shrunk to $150 billion. When pressed by reporters, he shrugged and said, "I've done what I needed to do"—this statement, coming from a dreamer known for his high-profile manner, reveals some exhaustion with the political game.

Looking back at Musk's history of political gambles, from personally supporting Trump’s campaign rallies to secretly orchestrating the Wisconsin Supreme Court election this year (despite his candidate's crushing defeat), this tech maverick seems to always want to prove he can balance between the White House and Wall Street. However, the failure of the DOGE department feels like a cold splash of water awakening the dream of "profiting from both politics and business."

Interestingly, at the same time he announced a reduction in political investments, Musk sent out two key signals: he promised to hold onto the position of Tesla CEO for the next five years and announced that he would launch self-driving taxis in June. This inevitably leads one to think that perhaps he is recalibrating his life priorities—preferring to continue rewriting the history of human technology in Silicon Valley rather than being a lobbyist in Washington.