Elon Musk

Elon Musk may be a visionary entrepreneur, but his brief stint in the U.S. government showed he is less effective at politics. After helping propel Donald Trump to the presidency through unprecedented donations and social media support, Musk spent the first five months of the year as a top advisor and champion behind the “Department of Government Efficiency”—a rebranded federal agency attempting to cut government spending and curb waste. While DOGE claims to have cut around $200 billion in government contracts, errors and a sparse paper trail leave the department’s real track record somewhat murky. Musk’s time in politics has now been characterized by a very public fallout with Trump on social media and has turned Musk into a polarizing political figure, damaging the Tesla brand and contributing to the company’s drop in annual deliveries. Even as Musk spent less time at his varied companies this year, there was notable progress. SpaceX continuously deployed test flights of the mega-rocket Starship; Tesla achieved an aggressive June deadline for launching a limited self-driving taxi service in Austin; and as of August Neuralink implanted its brain-computer-interface chips into nine humans. Even amid the controversy that surrounds him, Musk remains one of the most important and influential entrepreneurs in the U.S.