It's Musk's last day - what has he achieved at the White House?

Elon Musk's clip successful the Trump medication is coming to an extremity aft a tempestuous 129 days successful which the world's richest antheral took an axe to authorities spending - stirring ample contention on the way.

Earlier this week, the South African-born billionaire, connected his societal media platform, X, thanked President Trump for his time astatine the Department of Government Efficiency, oregon Doge.

Trump announced helium volition big a quality league successful the Oval Office connected Friday with Musk, writing: "This volition beryllium his past day, but not really, due to the fact that helium will, always, beryllium with us, helping each the way."

While Musk's clip successful authorities lasted small much than 4 months, his enactment with Doge upended the national authorities and had an interaction not conscionable successful the halls of powerfulness successful Washington - but astir the world.

Let's instrumentality a look astatine immoderate of the ways Musk has near a mark.

Musk took a occupation with the Trump White House with 1 mission: to chopped spending from the authorities arsenic overmuch arsenic possible.

He began with an archetypal people of "at slightest $2 trillion", which past shifted to $1tn and yet $150bn.

To date, Doge claims to person saved $175bn done a operation of plus sales, lease and assistance cancellations, "fraud and improper outgo deletion", regulatory savings and a 260,000-person simplification from the 2.3 million-strong national workforce.

A BBC investigation of those figures, however, recovered that grounds is sometimes lacking.

This ngo has astatine times caused some chaos and controversy, including immoderate instances successful which national judges halted wide firings and ordered employees reinstated.

In different instances, the medication has been forced to backtrack connected firings.

In 1 notable lawsuit successful February, the medication stopped the firing of hundreds of national employees moving astatine the National Nuclear Security Administration, including immoderate with delicate jobs related to the US atomic arsenal.

Musk himself repeatedly acknowledged that wide firings would inevitably see mistakes.

"We volition marque mistakes," helium said successful February, aft his section mistook a portion of Mozambique for Hamas-controlled Gaza portion cutting an assistance programme. "But we'll enactment rapidly to close immoderate mistakes."

Doge's efforts to entree information besides garnered controversy, peculiarly the department's propulsion for entree to delicate treasury section systems that power the backstage accusation of millions of Americans.

Polls amusement that cuts to authorities spending stay fashionable with galore Americans - adjacent if Musk's idiosyncratic popularity has waned.

The beingness of Musk - an unelected "special authorities employee" with companies that number the US authorities arsenic customers - successful Trump's White House has besides raised eyebrows, prompting questions astir imaginable conflicts of interest.

His firm empire includes ample companies that bash concern with US and overseas governments. SpaceX has $22 cardinal successful US authorities contracts, according to the company's main executive.

Some Democrats besides accused Musk of taking vantage of his presumption to drum up concern overseas for his outer net services firm, Starlink.

The White House was accused of helping Musk's businesses by showcasing vehicles made by Tesla - his embattled car institution - connected the White House tract successful March.

Musk and Trump person some shrugged disconnected immoderate proposition that his enactment with the authorities is conflicted oregon ethically problematic.

Around the world, Musk's enactment with Doge was astir felt aft the immense bulk - implicit 80% - of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID's) programmes were eliminated pursuing a six-week reappraisal by Doge. The remainder were absorbed by the State Department.

The Musk and Doge-led cuts formed portion of a wider effort by the Trump medication to bring overseas spending person successful enactment with its "America First" approach.

The cuts to the bureau - tasked with enactment specified arsenic famine detection, vaccinations and nutrient assistance successful struggle areas - rapidly had an interaction connected projects including communal kitchens successful war-torn Sudan, scholarships for young Afghan women who fled the Taliban and clinics for transgender radical successful India.

USAID besides was a important instrumentality of US "soft power" astir the world, starring immoderate detractors pointing to its elimination arsenic a motion of waning American power connected the planetary stage.

While Musk - and Trump - person for years been accused by detractors of spreading baseless conspiracy theories, Musk's beingness successful the White House starkly highlighted however misinformation has crept into sermon astatine the highest levels of the US government.

For example, Musk dispersed an unfounded net mentation that US golden reserves had softly been stolen from Fort Knox successful Kentucky. At 1 point, helium floated the thought of livestreaming a sojourn determination to guarantee the golden was secured.

• Fact-checking Trump's Oval Office confrontation with Ramaphosa

More recently, Musk dispersed wide discredited rumours that the achromatic Afrikaner colonisation of South Africa is facing "genocide" successful their location country.

Those rumours recovered their mode into the Oval Office earlier successful May, erstwhile a gathering aimed astatine soothing tensions betwixt the US and South Africa took a drastic twist aft Trump presented South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with videos and articles helium said were grounds of crimes against Afrikaners.

Musk's enactment successful authorities besides showed that, contempt nationalist pledges of unity, determination are tensions wrong the "Trump 2.0" administration.

While Trump publically - and repeatedly - backed the enactment of Musk and Doge, Musk's tenure was marked by reports of hostility betwixt him and members of the furniture who felt Doge cuts were impacting their agencies.

"They person a batch of respect for Elon and that he's doing this, and immoderate disagree a small bit," Trump acknowledged successful a February furniture meeting. "If they aren't, I privation them to talk up."

At 1 point, helium was asked whether immoderate furniture members had expressed dissatisfaction with Musk and turned to the country to inquire them. No 1 spoke.

The announcement of Musk's departure besides came the aforesaid time that CBS - the BBC's US spouse - publicised portion of an interrogation during which Musk said helium was "disappointed" by Trump's "big, beautiful" fund bill. The measure includes multi-trillion dollar taxation breaks and a pledge to summation defence spending.

Musk said the measure "undermines" the enactment of Doge to chopped spending - reflecting larger tensions wrong the Republican Party implicit the way forward.