Why Elon Musk Stepped Back from DOGE ? Neuroscience Behind the Decision.

Why Elon Musk Stepped Back from DOGE

Musk's decision to scale back from DOGE was heavily influenced by the plummeting performance of Tesla. By April 2025, Tesla reported a 71% drop in profits and a 20% decline in car sales for the first quarter of the year compared to the previous year. This financial hit was attributed to global protests and boycotts against Tesla, sparked by Musk's controversial political involvement with DOGE, which aimed to slash federal spending and jobs. The backlash damaged Tesla's brand, particularly among liberal and Democratic consumers who are more likely to buy electric vehicles, leading to a 13% drop in car sales—the lowest in three years. Additionally, Musk's net worth dropped by $122 billion in 2025, reflecting the broader impact on his business empire, including SpaceX and X.

Musk's role in DOGE, which he led since its inception under President Donald Trump’s administration, had become a lightning rod for criticism. DOGE's aggressive cuts—eliminating 250,000 federal jobs, gutting agencies like USAID, and targeting programs like DEI—drew lawsuits, protests, and even violence, including firebombings of Tesla facilities. Musk himself faced personal threats and admitted to feeling overwhelmed, stating in March 2025, "I'm stretched pretty thin. I have like 17 jobs." His role as a special government employee (SGE) was also time-limited to 130 days, set to expire by late May 2025, adding pressure to either step back or face legal and ethical scrutiny over conflicts of interest with his businesses, which hold significant government contracts (e.g., SpaceX’s $22 billion in U.S. government contracts).

By June 2025, Musk’s relationship with Trump had deteriorated, with public spats over a spending bill and Trump threatening to cancel Musk’s government contracts, further impacting Tesla’s stock (down 14% in a single day) and Musk’s other ventures. This fallout, combined with Tesla’s financial struggles, made stepping back from DOGE a strategic move to refocus on his businesses and mitigate further damage.

Neuroscience Behind the Decision

From a neuroscience perspective, Musk’s decision can be understood through the lens of stress, reward prediction, and cognitive load, all of which influence decision-making under pressure.

1. Stress and the Amygdala’s Role: Musk was under immense stress due to Tesla’s financial decline, public backlash, and personal threats. The amygdala, the brain’s fear and stress center, likely heightened his perception of threat to his business empire and personal safety. Chronic stress can impair the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for rational decision-making, leading Musk to prioritize immediate survival (Tesla’s recovery) over long-term ideological goals (DOGE’s mission). This is evident in his April 2025 statement during Tesla’s earnings call: “Starting next month, I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla,” signaling a shift to address the acute crisis.
2. Reward Prediction and Dopamine: The brain’s reward system, driven by dopamine, motivates behavior based on expected outcomes. Initially, Musk likely saw DOGE as a high-reward endeavor—potentially saving $1 trillion, enhancing his influence, and aligning with his vision of efficiency. However, as DOGE’s savings fell short (only $160 billion, far below the $1 trillion goal) and Tesla’s losses mounted, the dopamine-driven reward prediction for staying in DOGE diminished. Conversely, refocusing on Tesla offered a higher potential reward (profit recovery, brand stabilization), prompting Musk to redirect his efforts. This aligns with his confidence in Tesla’s future, as he stated on the earnings call that Tesla’s long-term profitability lies in robotaxis and AI, not just car sales.
3. Cognitive Load and Decision Fatigue: Musk’s admission of being “stretched pretty thin” reflects high cognitive load—managing Tesla, SpaceX, X, Neuralink, xAI, and DOGE simultaneously. The prefrontal cortex, which handles executive functions like planning and prioritization, can become overwhelmed under such conditions, leading to decision fatigue. Neuroscience research shows that decision fatigue reduces self-control and increases the likelihood of choosing the path of least resistance. For Musk, stepping back from DOGE was a way to reduce cognitive load, allowing him to focus on Tesla, where his expertise and direct control could yield faster results.
4. Loss Aversion and the Sunk Cost Fallacy: Loss aversion, a principle rooted in the brain’s tendency to prioritize avoiding losses over acquiring gains, likely played a role. Musk’s $122 billion net worth decline and Tesla’s 71% profit drop were significant losses that outweighed DOGE’s modest savings. However, Musk avoided the sunk cost fallacy—continuing with DOGE simply because of the time and effort already invested—by recognizing that further involvement would likely exacerbate his business losses. His decision to step back, rather than fully resign initially, allowed him to maintain some influence in DOGE while minimizing risk, a balanced move reflecting activity in the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex, which mediates conflict resolution.

Business Profit Motivation

From a business profit perspective, Musk’s decision was a calculated move to protect his core enterprises. Tesla’s plunging sales and profits threatened its long-term viability, especially amid competition from Chinese EV makers and potential disruptions from Trump’s trade policies (e.g., tariffs, which Musk noted in a CBS interview could “affect things a little bit”). SpaceX faced risks from Trump’s threat to cancel government contracts, critical for its Dragon spacecraft operations. Meanwhile, Neuralink and xAI were raising funds ($650 million and $300 million, respectively, in June 2025), indicating growth potential that required Musk’s attention. By stepping back from DOGE, Musk aimed to:

• Stabilize Tesla: Refocusing on Tesla could rebuild consumer trust, especially among EV buyers alienated by his political role, and drive innovation in AI and robotaxis, which Musk sees as Tesla’s future.
• Protect Government Contracts: Reducing his political involvement might mitigate Trump’s threats to SpaceX’s contracts, preserving a key revenue stream.
• Support Emerging Ventures: Dedicating time to Neuralink and xAI could accelerate their growth, diversifying his portfolio and offsetting Tesla’s losses.

Critical Perspective

While the establishment narrative frames Musk’s exit as a response to Tesla’s crisis, it’s worth questioning whether DOGE’s failures also played a larger role than reported. DOGE’s savings were overstated (budget experts called the $160 billion claim “wildly inflated”), and its actions—like accessing sensitive Treasury data and gutting agencies—drew legal and ethical scrutiny. Musk’s departure might also reflect a strategic retreat from a failing project to preserve his public image, especially as his favorability ratings plummeted. Additionally, neuroscience suggests that Musk’s personality—described as “single-minded” by a former Tesla director—may have amplified his stress response, as his lack of diverse perspectives (noted in the same source) could limit his ability to adapt to political complexities, pushing him back to the familiar terrain of business.