Inside Elon Musk's shock-and-awe months in the White House

In the end, all it took to oust Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, whom President Trump appointed in his first term, was a nudge from Elon Musk.

- Josh Dawsey, Annie Linskey, Brian Schwartz & Dana Mattioli

During a Friday meeting last month at Trump's Bedminster, N.J., club, Musk complained to the president that DeJoy was resisting his cost-cutting efforts at the U.S. Postal Service, according to people briefed on the conversation.

Trump had grown annoyed with DeJoy already, and wanted the postal service private and profitable, so he planned to fire him the following week, the people said. By Monday, DeJoy announced his resignation, effective immediately.

In the months since Trump took office, Musk has alienated some Trump aides with his chaotic approach to his role. Worried Republicans are concerned his unpopularity could cost them future elections, as it did in Wisconsin this week.

Through it all, Musk has retained his status as among the most influential advisers in Trump's White House—producing shock-and-awe, for a shock-and-awe president—and using his unpaid perch to reshape the federal bureaucracy, punish critics and serve as a key interlocutor to Trump.

Aides expect Musk to leave his formal White House post after his short-term assignment ends. Trump himself said this past week that Musk, who leads electric-vehicle maker Tesla and SpaceX, among other enterprises, eventually had to return to his companies. He is expected to remain an informal adviser and friend to Trump, White House officials say.

Trump staffers, worried about how Musk could become a political albatross, highlighted to Trump the extent to which the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—where a liberal judge won despite Musk and groups tied to him spending some $20 million to defeat her—became a contest about Musk.

But Musk has also helped Trump by absorbing criticism for government cuts and other politically unpopular moves that might otherwise be trained on Trump himself.