Trump the Tesla Salesman

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has never been shy about using his presidency to enrich himself or his family. He relentlessly exploits his office to extract every penny possible for his own personnel benefit, even overcharging the Secret Service to stay at Trump properties while providing protection for him. But yesterday, Trump took things to a new level, turning the White House lawn into a new car showroom and his social media feed into the Home Shopping Network. But this effort was not for Trump's own financial gain, but rather for the benefit of Shadow President Elon Musk.

In an event fully covered by the White House press corps, Musk lined up examples of various Tesla models in front of the White House. Trump, who the day before had promised to buy a new Tesla, gave what amounted to an infomercial extolling the virtues of Teslas before settling on a red Model S. Trump emphasized that he is not allowed to drive due to Secret Service restrictions. However, former President Joe Biden frequently drove various vehicles during his term. It might be the case that Trump doesn't know how to drive. While sitting in the Model S, Trump needed confirmation that one of the two pedals was the brake pedal. At any rate, it is apparent that Trump is not really in the market for a new car and that the entire event was meant to promote the sale of Teslas, an unethical if not surprising violation of presidential practices.

Why Trump might feel a need to pump up Tesla is not a mystery. Musk is the CEO and a board member of Tesla, and much of Musk's net worth is tied to the company. While White House officials are normally expected to take leave from their commercial ventures when joining the government, Musk, an advisor to Trump, is continuing to lead the several companies that he owns or controls. Tesla's stock has dropped nearly 50% from its high in December, and Musk is obviously feeling the pressure. Tesla's share price is not only important to Musk's personal wealth but because he used Tesla stock as collateral for his purchase of Twitter, now X, he could conceivably run into trouble with those loans if the share price dropped low enough. Regardless of the reasons, Tesla and the government have come to have an unprecedented entanglement.

There is no doubt that Tesla is facing difficult times. Even before Musk became a burden to Tesla's fortunes due to his political involvement, the car company was facing challenges because of its aging fleet and aggressive competition from other manufacturers. The only new Tesla model, the Cybertruck, has not come close to meeting sales goals. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, including one that was previously only known for building iPhone knockoffs, are cleaning Tesla's clock with models that outperform Teslas at much lower prices. Even in the U.S., Tesla has been seeing its market share eroded from all directions with companies like Lucent and Rivian challenging Tesla in the luxury market and Hyundai, Kia, and even Chevrolet competing at the lower end. But Musk's participation in Trump's presidential campaign and position in the Trump administration have been the icing on the cake. Tesla sales in Europe have dropped over 50%, including a whopping 76% decrease in Germany. U.S. sales are also dropping. In 2024, Tesla saw a drop in deliveries, and this year has started off even worse. For a company whose share price depends on growth, this is a disaster.

Making matters worse for Tesla have been grassroots efforts including a campaign to boycott the company. An initiative dubbed the Tesla Takedown has resulted in protests at Tesla dealerships. I've never seen a product's place in the pantheon of virtue signalling take such a radical change as has Tesla. Once the choice of crunchy liberals who valued the environment, Teslas have now become hated by many of those who once, and probably still do, see EVs as the future. Musk may have conducted the greatest self-own in history. While there are many conservatives who are fans of EVs, indeed I would hazard that most of the prominent social media influencers on EV issues are conservative, the EV market is undoubtedly dominated by liberals. Musk has single-handedly alienated them. Tesla-hatred has become extremely widespread. Our neighborhood mailing list has had reports of neighborhood Tesla owners having anti-Tesla stickers put on their cars or even having them keyed. A group of Cybertruck owners has even asked Congress for legislation classifying anti-Tesla actions as "hate crimes." Things are so bad for Tesla owners that some are trying to disguise them as other brands — one Cybertruck owner, for instance, put a Rivian badge on his truck. Others would like to sell their Teslas but can't take the financial hit. According to posts in the DCUM car forum, both CarMax and Carvana are refusing to purchase Teslas now and even local dealers are passing on them. To get rid of a Tesla these days, an owner would basically have to give it away. The result is Trump to the rescue.

It is not clear what provoked Trump to suddenly become a Tesla fan. Trump has generally been extremely anti-EV, spreading considerable misinformation about them. On the first day of his administration, he removed an EV mandate that didn't exist in the first place and attempted to stop federal funding for new EV chargers. After receiving millions of dollars in campaign donations from Musk, Trump softened his stance a bit but has continued to rail against EVs in general. Now, however, Trump is on the White House lawn acting as a Tesla salesman. I assume that this signals that Tesla's fortunes may even be worse than we suspect. In addition to trying to sell Teslas, Trump has said on his Truth Social social media platform that boycotting Tesla is illegal — it's not — and that he would classify violence against Tesla-associated targets as domestic terrorism. Trump is not only using the presidential bully pulpit to promote Teslas but also the levers of the U.S. government to protect the company and punish its opponents. In Trump's eyes, Tesla has essentially become an issue of national importance. Not to be overly cynical, but Trump's newfound interest in the company could be motivated by the fact that Musk has recently committed $100 million to political groups controlled by Trump. Spending $100 million for a White House infomercial and having those boycotting your cars labeled as "terrorists" is probably a pretty good deal.

A few more notes about Trump's White House lawn Tesla event. Trump was photographed with a handwritten note listing the prices of the cars being shown. At the bottom of the note it said, "All cars include self-driving, just needs to be turned on (free)". This is not true. Teslas do not currently have full self-driving and not all Teslas will support it if it ever is available. In addition, the note listed the lowest priced Tesla as $299 a month or $35k. That price is only available if the $7,500 federal EV tax credit is included. The tax credit has income restrictions so not everyone can take advantage of it. Moreover, both Trump and Musk support getting rid of the tax incentive. It is somewhat ironic that both men support increasing the price that they are advertising. Of course, that didn't come up during the event. But the shamelessness of both Trump and Musk is remarkable, though not in the least surprising.

I have little doubt that Trump's promotion of Tesla will damage the brand's reputation even more among liberals. The cars which have been derided as "swasticars" might now be better dubbed MAGAmobiles. The question is whether Trump's efforts will benefit Tesla in any way. Tesla's stock did rise slightly yesterday and opened strongly today, so maybe so. Personally, I think that if Trump can convince his cult followers to buy Teslas, it will be a positive development. It will benefit the environment and might provide a market for those Teslas that liberals are trying to unload. The adoption of Teslas among the MAGA crowd could lead to wider acceptance of EVs in general. As a somewhat newly minted EV fanboy (I purchased my first EV a year ago), I am all for increasing EV popularity. Nevertheless, I'd still rather that the White House were not turned into eBay for Trump's favored products.