Dem
47
GOP
53
There are just so many things about the Trump presidency that are not only unprecedented, but also surreal. And yesterday gave us yet another one of those occasions, as there was a somewhat impromptu Tesla sales demonstration on the lawn of the White House.
On Monday night, as part of a day in which he sent 100 messages on his boutique social media platform (apparently he doesn't have anything else to do), Trump blasted this:
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! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World's great automakers, and Elon's "baby," in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for. They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? 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. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???
It is a useful reminder that Trump either does not understand what "collusion" or "illegal boycott" mean, or else that he thinks his followers don't understand. It's worth noting, incidentally, that Trump has himself called for boycotts many, many times. For example, when the MLB All-Star Game was moved from Atlanta in 2021, in response to that state's new, restrictive voting laws, he decreed: "Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!"
Yeah, we know. "BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump is full of sh**."
Anyhow, in a somewhat rare development, Trump stuck with his promise and held a Tesla fashion show outside the White House yesterday (with Co-President Elon Musk in attendance, of course). Five different Teslas, including a Tesla Cybertruck (which might well be the world's ugliest car), were brought to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for Trump's inspection. He delivered a sales pitch for the vehicles, which apparently had to be written down for him so he would remember it:
Thereafter, Trump purchased a red Model S, paying with a check. If we were Musk, we'd make sure to see some ID and get a contact phone number before taking that check.
Obviously, it's more than a little sleazy to use the White House and the presidency to hawk products. And if Trump were anyone other than the president, it would also be illegal. That said, while Trump will not face consequences, we tend to doubt that yesterday's dog-and-Tesla show will have the intended effect. Sure, it may get a few MAGA cultists to buy Teslas, but Trump's base is blue-collar workers, and "blue-collar worker" and "Tesla" do not go well together, for several reasons. At the same time, the event makes very clear that the Tesla boycotts are working, which will stiffen the resolve of the anti-Tesla crowd. Further, the more that Tesla becomes a right-wing vehicle (the way, say, the Ford F-150 is), the more left-wing voters who will decide to go in a different direction with their electric vehicle purchases. And again, it is the affluent, college-educated, suburban voters who can afford $112,490 cars and they are largely Democrats, so making people who can't afford them love them but making people who can afford them hate them was probably not a smart move.
Has the stock market noticed the boycott of Tesla? We dunno, but here is a graph of the price of TSLA stock since just before the election until the closing yesterday. The high point was $475.90. Yesterday it closed at $230.58. According to the staff mathematician, half of $475.90 is $237.95. Does Musk care? Well, a large percentage of his wealth is tied up in TSLA stock. If you want to track this yourself, a good place is Yahoo Finance. When you get to that page, select 6M to see the last 6 months, for example. To get rid of the yellow balls, slide "Key Events" to the off position.
Incidentally, this is not worth its own item, but since we are on the subject of Teslas, it would seem that many owners have taken to buying badges and labels for other cars, so as to try to dissuade would-be vandals:
Somehow, the Tesla Cybertruck looks better when it has the Toyota marque. (Z)