President Trump says he plans to buy a Tesla on Tuesday to “support” billionaire Elon Musk.
The company’s stock plunged 15 percent Monday amid declining sales in multiple markets and protests against Musk’s recent political moves, including his drive to purge the federal government as part of Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. In a late-night Truth Social post, President Trump cast Tesla’s misfortunes as the unlawful work of his political enemies.
“The Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” the president wrote. “They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out?”
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“In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,” Trump continued. “Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”
Trump is a longstanding skeptic about electric vehicles, falsely claiming in a speech in Iowa October 2023 that they can only drive for “a half hour” before needing a recharge. Since returning to office, he’s also scrapped a goal set by President Joe Biden to ensure half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. are electric by 2030.
Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has also expressed opposition also said he would buy a Tesla on Monday as the company’s share price suffered its steepest decline in 5 years.
“I already picked out the one I want, the S Plaid... maybe it’s just a gesture on my part, and I like new technology,” Hannity said.
Musk has had a difficult few weeks, perhaps explaining why the president and Hannity decided now was the moment to pledge their support.
Tesla sales have nosedived in some of the country’s most valuable European markets, including in Germany, where Musk is supporting a far-right political party.
The company’s share price has halved from nearly $480 on December 17, to around $220 now.
Since most of Musk’s wealth is tied up with the company, that’s caused his personal net worth to plunge by a whopping $185 billion over the same time period, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. He nevertheless remains the world’s richest person with an estimated $301 billion fortune.
Outside of Tesla, Musk’s other companies have also suffered setbacks this year.
SpaceX, Musk’s second-biggest business, was blighted by two back-to-back rocket explosions, spreading debris over the Caribbean and threatening the safety of commercial airliners.
Starlink’s lucrative, multi-million dollar contracts have also been in trouble, with Canada’s largest province canceling one, and Italy looking into another.
His third-biggest company, X, also went offline for several hours on Tuesday after a “massive cyber attack.”
On top of all that, Trump’s Cabinet is fighting with Musk over his DOGE cuts and Steve Bannon continues to attack him over his politics.
