In the beginning, Donald Trump and Elon Musk Get along well. "He's a really incredible person, and I don't say that often," Trump said at a campaign rally last October.

Musk spent $288 million to elect Trump and his allies.

The president invited Musk to the Oval Office and Cabinet meetings. Musk calls himself "the first partner."

Mr. Trump welcomes Musk's idea to create a Ministry of Government Efficiency. ("You have to give him credibility!" the president told reporters.) Musk showed his goal of the threshold by waving a chainsaw at a February meeting of the conservative political action conference. "This is a chainsaw of bureaucracy!" he yelled.

In four months, Doge brought chainsaws to every federal department: 250,000 workers were fired or acquired; Musk even cut grants and staff at environmental agencies such as the EPA NOAAAfter decades of warning about the risks of climate change.

But Musk did it no Enjoy push back. have Violence;Death threat; litigation; Mandatory rehire; and shouted to match with cabinet members.

Tesla's profits 71% decrease- Musk's net worth fell by $100 billion.

Last month, Musk finally left Washington but still plans to open one or two days a week. This past Tuesday, he provided a "Sunday Morning" interview at SpaceX headquarters near Brownsville, Texas.

"A little unfair"

We know that when we see a whole bunch of musk installed by his admirers and wreak havoc by his critics, we know we are in the right community.

But the interview did not start smoothly.

I asked, "I noticed that all your business involves a lot of components, a lot of parts. Will tariffs and trade wars affect anything?"

"You know, tariffs always have an impact on things," Musk replied.

"I wonder what your thoughts on the foreign student ban. I mean, you're one of those kids, right?"

"Yes. I mean, I think we want to stick to the theme of the day, like a spaceship, not a presidential policy," Musk said.

"Oh, okay," I said. "Someone told me what's good, but..."

"No, okay, no," Musk replied.

But musk Once was Willing to talk about road fires. I asked him, "You've talked about how much grinding and stress you have, and you know, Tesla's reputation has been hit, your reputation has been hit. People are on social Securityand National Parksand Air trafficand Food Safetyand Cancer Research,,,,, Alzheimer's disease research. Now you have a chance to take a look, maybe there is a different approach? ”

Musk said: "Yes, I think…what started to happen is that it's a little unfair because, like, the Governor became the whipping boy of everything. So if there were some cuts, real or imagined people, everyone would blame it.

I asked, “I was just thinking, you know, ‘moving quickly and cracking things,’ you know, before you really understand what the agency does?”

"Yes, I mean, I guess part of that depends on where you are from," Musk said. "I'm like a supporter of smaller government, not a bigger government. So now, if someone supports more government plans and bigger governments, they see, 'Hey, Jogg is cutting all of these government plans,' then they're going to fundamentally oppose that because they just think the government should think more things. It's just a basic thing. I guess, ideologically.

“But my frank view of the government is, like the government is just, like a big, good DMV?

Musk then began talking about the Trump administration, not even asked about Trump. "And you know, that's not everything I agree with the government," Musk said. "So, I mean, I agree with what the government does. But we have differences. You know, I don't agree with me completely. But it's hard for me to come up with that point in the interview because then it's going to create a striking responsibility. Then, then I'm going to have some bondage, I don't want to be in a place where I'm going to know, I don't want to say that responsibility, I also want to do what I want to do, it's my responsibility.

On "Big and Beautiful Bills"

In Washington, federal workers say Dooger has thrown the government's actions into chaos. The worst thing is Probably nothing. Musk claims to save $175 billion so far (far from reaching Revise Target $1 trillion).

and That It was before the president's new spending bill passed through the House. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the proposed budget will Our debt will increase by $3.8 trillion over the next decade. Now debate in the Senate.

"Frankly, I'm disappointed to see a large spending bill that increases the budget deficit, does not reduce the budget deficit and undermines the work done by the Governor's team," Musk said.

I said, "I actually thought that when this 'big and beautiful Bill' appeared, everything he did on Doge was wiped out in the first year."

"I think the bills can be big, and they can be pretty," Musk said with a smile. "But I don't know if this can be done with both. My personal opinion."

This is where the story becomes a bit complicated.

Tuesday after our interview, CBS News releases a clip Promote this report. It was Musk who criticized Trump's spending bill that made his remarks news. It stretches all the way to the White House, where it asks the president about Musk’s criticism of the bill. Within 24 hours, Musk announced that his time in the Trump administration was Officially ended. Outside the government.

Musk said the reason was his limited 130 days of being a consultant. But until that moment, he kept Say him still Plan to work part-time. "Well, the Governor will keep moving forward, like a way of life," he told us. "I'm going to be involved, but as I've said publicly, my focus has to be on the company."

The truth is, Trump-Musk's relationship seems to be cooling down. The president once released Musk about six times a week. But by April, he no longer fully mentioned Musk.

Still, on Friday, they held media events at the White House to confirm their mutual admiration and open the door to future collaboration. "Elon really didn't leave," Trump said. "I think he'll go back and forth."

"The work of the Governor's team is incredible. They will continue to do an incredible job, and I will continue to visit here and become a friend and advisor to the president," Musk added.

Musk may be the first to admit his doe experiment, like Actual He had dark eyes on Friday, and he said he got it from his five-year-old son…or a match on that statue.

Musk said at least for the time being, his focus will be running his own business: Tesla, Starlink, X, XAI, Neuralink, Optimus Robots, Bouring Company and SpaceX.

I asked, “Are all your businesses related to some extent?”

"I think you can think of these businesses as things that improve the trajectory of civilization," Musk replied. "So, you know, in order to make life more popular or prolong life to Mars, the idea is to ensure the long-term survival of life and consciousness as we know it."

After Tuesday’s interview, we were invited to witness the 9th launch of his Starship, the largest rocket of all time. The previous two Starship tests ended with an explosion, or, as SpaceX put it, a "quickly planned disassembly." So everyone's eyes were on the Test Launch 9 to see if the Starship could return to Earth in one piece.

When Musk left the interview to watch the launch, he said something that could sum up all the businesses: “I can’t guarantee success, but I can guarantee excitement.”

Finally, Elon Musk's giant rocket was out of control. It cannot survive.

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A story produced by Dustin Stephens. Editor: Carol Ross.