# Musk says he stayed in government too long

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/musk-says-he-stayed-in-government-too-long/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Elon Musk](https://realalpha.app/builders/elon-musk/) · Elon Musk is an entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX.
- Host: [Walter Isaacson](https://realalpha.app/people/walter-isaacson/) · Host, The Builders
- Show: The Builders with Walter Isaacson
- Episode: [Elon Musk: The End of Work, the Death of Money, and a World Run by AI](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/), Oct 20, 2026
- Moment: 10:18 to 15:40 of the episode (5 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/musk-says-he-stayed-in-government-too-long/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=618

## Quote

> “But I think I should have been more in the background and probably **only had it last** for a month or two.”
> — [Elon Musk](https://realalpha.app/builders/elon-musk/) at [12:47](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=767) · The Builders with Walter Isaacson

## Takeaways

1. He says he should have kept a lower profile in government.
2. He believes political incentives make deficit reduction unlikely.
3. He sees AI and robots as the route to solving the national debt.

## About this segment

Elon Musk says he should have returned to his companies sooner and that government could not solve the deficit. He argues AI and robots, not spending cuts, will address the national debt.

From “Elon Musk: The End of Work, the Death of Money, and a World Run by AI”, Oct 20, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/)

## Transcript

From the transcript The Builders with Walter Isaacson publishes with the episode.

[10:31](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=631) You rebuilt XAI from the ground up not too long ago, right? It's almost like You did it with the Raptor engine too on Starship. You said, wait a minute, let's start from scratch. What did you do to rebuild XAI that way?

[10:46](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=646) First of all, actually spending meaningful time at the company makes a big difference. I mean, I sort of, it started off as kind of a side hustle, a side hustle to a side hustle, frankly. Then there was a year of being in politics and you know, elections and Doge and all that, which you obviously saw. The company's only three years old. So I really got back to the company just over a year ago. So I had to get my bearings. And then obviously I combined X and XAI and then with then the SpaceX.

[11:25](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=685) You just said something interesting about your year away from X, XAI and everything else in government and politics. Do you feel that that was too much of a distraction that in retrospect, it was misbegotten? I think I, I think I, I had it gone

[11:42](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=702) for too long. Um, so, um, you know, I mean, obviously a lot of people will disagree with me about this, but I, I think it's important, it was important to elect, uh, president Trump to sort of, you know, steer things more in the direction of a free market economy, um, you know, have less bureaucracy ideally. Um, and, um, I just, in, in, in my sort of a simple political platform of wanting safe cities, secure borders, aspirationally sensible spending, you know, the basics, um, that I thought, uh, Trump would be better than, you know, Kamala.

[12:25](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=745) I mean, it was, it was interesting to sort of go around with, uh, president Trump and, you know, on the Marine one and Air Force one and all that sort of stuff. Uh, but, but then, then, um, what I should have done, I think was be more in the background. But was that too seductive in a way? It was a little bit. I mean, it was, it was kind of cool. Cause you, I'm just, I'm just there in the Oval Office while, you know, all these like big momentous decisions are being made. Um, and you know, just sometimes, uh, having some, you know, uh, impact on what's being done. But I think I should have been more in the background and probably only had it last for a month or two. Because at that point, you've sort of seen most of what there is to see.

[13:18](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=798) Yeah, you seem to get a bit too intoxicated by it in a way, with the chainsaws. And all that. Yeah, I think that's true. Carried away, basically. Yeah, I mean, so I ended up leaving sometime in May. That was. A weird weekend. Yeah, it was. Tell me about it. No, no, I can't. Let's not dig up the... Let's let sleeping dogs lie or whatever, you know. Let's not put a spade down in the backyard type of thing.

[13:54](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=834) You never know what you're going to find. So. But, yeah, anyway, the point is I should have gone back and focused on AI a little sooner than I did.

[14:07](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=847) And did you feel like when he gives you a golden key, you're going, did you kind of feel relieved? Like, actually, this has been intoxicating, but I can do more if I go back to my businesses? I mean, what did you feel when you said, oh, man, I'm exiting. Maybe that's not the worst thing. Yeah.

[14:08](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=848) Well, actually, the thing is I came to the conclusion that there was no way we were going to solve the deficit from within the government. Impossible. You know, maybe if the president made that his, you know, primary goal, we could do that. But the problem is if you try to solve the deficit and stop wasteful spending, you make a lot of enemies in that situation. So... And at president Trump, you know, he, he, he likes to be liked, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't like people, you know, calling him being upset about what some funding being stopped type of thing. Um, um, you know, I came to the conclusion that, uh, the, the only way we're going to solve the national debt is with AI and robots. We're not going to solve it by trying to save our way there. The appetite is not there, and it's not just at the presidency. The appetite is

[15:12](https://realalpha.app/v/AQnwQHMnCrE/?t=912) not there at the presidency, the House, the Senate, or the judiciary. Basically, no one in authority in the government whatsoever, really, with maybe a few rare exceptions of the grand polls of the world type of thing, actually wants to reduce spending. No, they don't.