Not even three months ago, convicted felon Donald Trump and his largest funder, ketamine-fueled Tesla CEO Elon Musk, appeared together on the White House lawn, improperly using government resources to do a low-budget ad to help Tesla get out of the sales ditch that Musk has dug for it.
Now, amidst an explosive feud between the two narcissists that came to a head yesterday, it’s being reported that Mr. Trump wants to sell the object of that ad: his red Tesla Model S.
Tesla is going through a rough time in sales right now, and it’s largely related to CEO Elon Musk’s political activities.
He gave hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to anti-EV candidate Donald Trump, becoming his top funder, and Mr. Trump and his republican party have gone on to make many anti-environment and anti-EV moves in the months since they’ve seized power.
Musk himself spent the last few months working in an advisory position in the White House, which was dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency,” despite it not being a real government department and having a supposed mission redundant with the already-existing Government Accountability Office.
During his time, he adopted a slash-and-burn ethos of cutting small but effective government programs (and, mostly, lying about how much those programs cost). He also interfered in their normal activities, making government less efficient, not more.
It’s expected that the cuts recommended by Musk’s advisory board could end up costing Americans billions of dollars in the long term.
Musk’s political advocacy has also included support for German neo-Nazis, agreeing with a defense of Hitler’s actions in the Holocaust, and many other white supremacist statements.
Unsurprisingly, this has driven protests against the company, embarrassed owners and pushed many customers away – and those protesters aren’t planning on stopping even now that Musk has left his advisory position.
Amidst all this chaos Musk brought to his company through his ill-considered political activities, there was a thought to forestall the sales decline by doing a Tesla ad on the White House lawn, alongside Mr. Trump.
Press was invited, and the two parked a few Teslas in the driveway while Mr. Trump hawked Musk’s products, reading from a script and his notes on unit pricing and the availability of features like full self-driving.
The “ad” had several funny moments (including the most humorous line, “everything’s computer!”), as parodized by The Daily Show in this spot for the “White House Auto Mall”
It was a strange moment for plenty of reasons, not least of which is because Tesla does not do traditional advertising placements, instead preferring to focus on other forms of marketing. It had considered starting to do ads, but Musk fired the nascent ad team last year.
This, too, was not a traditional advertisement, but it did reek of desperation.
It turns out the ad didn’t really work – soon afterwards, we checked Tesla’s inventory numbers and didn’t see a big spike in orders.
White House official says the red Tesla is for sale
And now, it’s being reported that the vehicle which Mr. Trump said he “loved” (er, excuse me, he said he loves “Tesler,” not “Tesla”) is for sale. Several outlets reported today that a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Trump has decided to sell the car. And a White House official told USA Today that Mr. Trump has no plans to have further contact with Musk.
Mr. Trump hadn’t actually used the car to drive, as presidents are typically disallowed from driving by the Secret Service, but staff could use the vehicle. And it’s supposedly not the first Tesla Mr. Trump has owned – he is rumored to have once owned an original Tesla Roadster, which he also didn’t drive (I’m a Roadster owner, and let’s just say I doubt Mr. Trump would fit in this car).
The news of Mr. Trump’s buyer’s remorse comes not even 24 hours after a very public spat over the republicans’ wasteful budget bill, which saw Mr. Trump threatening to stop paying for SpaceX’s services and Musk accusing Mr. Trump of being on Jeffrey Epstein’s list. Musk had previously said he loved Mr. Trump “as much as a straight man can.”
The spat resulted in a significant drop in TSLA’s stock price, which recovered partially today. But it could lead to a lot more trouble for Tesla, and we at Electrek went through the possible negative effects for Tesla here.
As of now, the car remains parked at the White House.
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