Elon Musk visited the White House on Tuesday, bringing a red Model S with him. The intended driver? The president.
Musk, who runs the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has become a regular sidekick of President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Trump came to Musk’s defense after Tesla stock plummeted, and said he had decided to buy a Tesla.
“To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” he said in a post on Truth Social, before alleging the left is “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla, “Elon’s ‘baby’”
“They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out?” he said, before revealing his plans.
“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,” the president said.
“Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???
Musk supported the idea. In a post on X, he responded to Trump’s Truth Social statement with a “Thank you.”
On Tuesday, after a test-drive, Trump picked the Model S over a Cybertruck. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock rallied.
Although Trump has criticized electric vehicles in the past, he changed his tune after Musk endorsed him for president during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“I’m for electric cars. I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly,” Trump said during an August rally, as The Associated Press reported.
Tesla endures backlash
Before the Tesla stock rallied on Tuesday, it dropped on Monday in the wake of declining sales.
James Stephenson, a Tesla shareholder popular for posting about the company on X, noted Tuesday that Tesla shares experienced the “largest single-day (drop)” in the automaker’s history.
Tesla shares dropped by 15.4% to $222.15, he said.
Stephenson said the Tesla shares were at an all-time low in July 2010 at $1.07, “following the Fourth of July holiday weekend after Tesla IPO’d.”
But the X owner displayed confidence in the company’s future. Replying to Stephenson’s post, Musk said, “It will be fine long-term.”
On Tuesday, the stock was up nearly 5%, according to Investopedia.
As Musk slashes federal spending through DOGE, Tesla is under attack. Aside from the peaceful protests at dealerships, there are widespread reports of these EVs being vandalized, as CNN reported. In Oregon, shots were fired at a Tesla dealership and near Boston, Tesla charging stations were set on fire.
“While the motivation for this has not been confirmed, we are aware that other Tesla dealerships have been targeted across Oregon and the nation for political reasons,” the local Oregon police said.
This comes after Musk’s social media platform X experienced several outages on Monday. As CNBC reported, 40,000 users reported problems with the site. He alleged the cyberattack may have originated from Ukraine.
“We’re not sure exactly what happened but there was a massive cyberattack to try and bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” Musk told Fox News Business host Larry Kudlow. Musk bought X for $44 billion in 2022. Musk, who often criticizes U.S. aid to Kyiv, did not offer any proof of his claim.
In addition to Tesla and X, Musk also owns SpaceX and Neuralink. He told the Fox News host that he’s running his businesses “with great difficulty” before saying he believes he’s doing important work with the federal government.
“I’m just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud, and so far we’re making good progress, actually,” he said. “Our savings at this point exceed $4 billion a day. So it’s very significant.”
So far, DOGE estimates $105 billion in savings but these numbers haven’t been verified. He told Kudlow his department will continue working for another year.
“The goal here is: Let’s not have America go bankrupt with waste and fraud,” Musk said. “So that’s what I’m here for.”
