JUST days after a high-stakes White House meeting reportedly attended by South African billionaire Johann Rupert and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, South Africa appears to be easing regulations for Musk’s Starlink satellite venture.

Republicans may be glad that Elon Musk is gone from the White House, but they’re not happy he’s taking his money with him. The world’s richest man said at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday that he believes he’s “done enough” when it comes to political spending.

But Musk’s highly visible presence in Washington has ended, a POLITICO analysis found. In Trump’s rapidly evolving second presidency, Musk’s monopoly on political discourse, news coverage and social media seems to have broken — driven in part by how Trump and Republicans have all but stopped talking about him.

On a bonus episode (first released on May 19, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: Do you think DOGE has helped to shrink the federal government or was it all for show? We asked and you answered on Forum. The series from USA TODAY's Opinion team is dedicated to showcasing views from across the political spectrum on issues that Americans are starkly divided on.

At the Qatar Economic Forum, Elon Musk and Mishal Husain talk about the Tesla backlash, AI regulation and DOGE’s success rate.

Elon Musk, who gave over $250 million to support Donald Trump, says he'll do 'a lot less' political spending, citing no current reason to continue major donations