Elon Musk isn’t stepping back from DOGE until next month, but President Donald Trump is already talking about him in the past tense. Trump heaped praise on his billionaire buddy Wednesday as he spoke to reporters at the Oval Office about Musk’s looming departure from the cost-cutting task force.

Overcast | Pocket CastsFor a while, it seemed as if DOGE Elon and Tesla Elon could exist in the same space-time continuum. One of them carried out Donald Trump’s ruthless cost-cutting mission while the other pitched cars that appealed most to people who were highly likely to oppose that mission,