Coming off the heels of an election win that was nowhere near as close as most projected and having already served a term as president, one would think that President Donald Trump would be nearly impervious to any and all criticism to the point that he’d still be riding a wave of first 90-day glory. This would also apply to those in his employ, the same people who have gone about their tasks with seemingly little constraint – looking at Elon Musk primarily, who, depending on what judge you ask, either is or isn’t the head of DOGE, and the person making bigger changes to government than anyone in recent memory. Short and sweet, if criticism bothers either Musk or Trump, it leaves Americans to only wonder why they would get into this stuff in the first place, neither needed money or fame. And speaking of business, the markets and consumers are reacting to Musk’s position by turning sour on Tesla. It is to the point that it’s most certainly bothering Trump and Musk.
After a week in which Trump left Musk out in the cold following a cabinet meeting in which it was widely reported that Trump had Marco Rubio’s back in a knockdown fight with Musk, Trump decided to get on Truth Social and dress down all the consumers and traders turning away from Tesla – the primary source of Musk’s wealth, which fell an impressive 15% yesterday (Broken up into paragraphs for clarity):
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.
Well, Musk is doing a fantastic job at cutting government programs and that may be the problem. It is highly controversial and some don’t like it and are reacting. But it’s not illegal for consumers writ large to decide that they no longer want a Tesla and the stock price is a mere reflection of perceived consumer demand. Traders don’t last long unless the bottom line is their only agenda. If people were lining up to buy Teslas, the price would reflect such. The only sort of “illegal collusion” that I can think of would be in a situation where other car companies organized a movement to dump Tesla. Fortunately or unfortunately, that’s almost impossible to envision, not the least because there is no apparent need.
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???
This makes little sense other than him deciding to buy a new Tesla tomorrow – we can half expect the federal government to order 2.5 million Tesla trucks to serve in the parking lot of National Parks that no longer have park rangers there to provide tours or give a talk on why Old Faithful has so much faith. We have yet to hear of a canceled Musk contract.
Getting back to the bigger picture, this isn’t a good look for either Trump or Musk. Both knew exactly what they signed up for, Musk was talking about short term pain for long-term gain before Trump even raised his hand in January. Did either of them really think they could terminate this many people, cut this many programs, inflict this kind of short-term pain, and not get criticism and pushback? Musk is one of the most successful business guys in history precisely because he is maniacally good at predicting future demand – did he not anticipate alienating many consumers before he jumped capped-head first into a pool of chainsaws? Come on.
The way to handle this is to either ignore it completely, or – even better, confidently waive it off as a shortsighted reaction that will quickly turn around in the future. “To be expected, totally. Change is scary to people and we’re seeing a bit of a reaction to it. But in the same way that everyone will benefit in the long run, so too will the business side of things. No one is surprised or worried… ” And with that the problem is at least out of the headlines. Expressing a sense of confidence would also likely help the share price – it is hard to imagine how it could hurt. This sounds a bit like fear which can be deadly as it turns into a negative feedback loop.
There is nothing illegal about choosing to not buy a new Tesla, nor in criticizing the administration’s new direction. Given that they had to know that the criticism would come in waves, it is hard to understand the day to day reaction. And if either of them is that worried, both certainly have the experience to know markets and people are finnicky – they’re only a good week or two away from getting right back. So, much better to waive it all off and plow forward. It’s a bit of a mystery.
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Elon is entering the “Find Out” phase and if he was a smart as he (and his mom) claims he is, he would know that Everything Trump Touches Dies.
He could resolve this quickly if his IQ was anywhere near his ego size. Just resign as Tesla CEO and install a puppet to take the heat off the company.
As a Tesla driver, that would make me very happy.
And probably would be a huge relief to the poor Tesla employees who are the victims of the misplaced aggression of the stupid protesters.
“Victims of the misplaced aggression of the stupid protesters.”
Wow.
Could you possibly be any more stupid? Why should Tesla employees be exempt from the “pain” that THEIR boss is inflicting on hundreds of thousands of government workers (not to mention the potential “pain” that millions of ordinary citizens face with the loss of all those government workers)? FFS, dude, people who are put out of work because of the Muskrat’s doings aren’t going to be able to afford a Tesla. If people can’t afford to buy a Tesla, then there’s no reason for the company to keep making new cars. If there’s no reason to keep making new cars, there’s no reason for Tesla to have so many workers. And, if there’s no reason for Tesla to have so many workers, then the Muskrat’s going to start pink-slipping current employees. And, if the Muskrat would stop, for just a frakkin’ second and realize the harm that HE is doing to ordinary Americans (and the man is NOT answerable to ANYONE, other that #DrowsyDonnie Drumpf, since no one elected him to an office and no one in the Senate voted to confirm him as a Cabinet official yet he’s sitting in on Cabinet meetings), he might stop playing around with chainsaws (lord knows I would love to see him have an accident when he’s playing around with the damn thing).
But he’s got an ego the size of the Sun and he’s not going to admit that he can’t do everything at the same time. He’s certainly NOT going to resign as the CEO of any of his organizations, because that would imply he can’t do everything. One of the very first things the Muskrat did when he took over Twitter was to fire or lay off a sizable chunk of the workforce because he didn’t seem to understand (despite his supposed tech background) that the platform needed a lot of people to keep it working properly. And, the site had major issues for the better part of the first month he owned it but did he bring back those people? No. He was busy trying to get out of the deal that HE made to buy the site. And then, of course, after things finally settled down, it was mostly because he cut other aspects (like “moderation”) which forced the remaining employees to do all the work of the folks who were gone. (It’s never fun having 1000 employees one day, and suddenly you find out that only 600 are still working the next day but those 600 now have to do the work of 1000–with no additional compensation but facing the prospect of being let go if they don’t do all that extra work.)
Sphincter Face told me in his speech a week ago that there will be a period of economic disruption and pain. I guess he meant for me only, not his pet Nazi!
Actually, I began my boycott of Tesla when I saw my first one at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. I was amazed that this “Musk guy” took over the company in 2008 and a year later sent such a poor example of his work to the most prestigious car show on the west coast. The technology may have been his biggest concern, but he wanted to sell cars and this thing was a monstrosity. Painted a very drab red color that had bubbles and creases throughout. The doors did not close correctly and the metal seams did not meet. I swore off Tesla and Musk and the man has not done anything in the last 16 years to make me rethink my brilliant decision!
As for illegal boycotts, when consumers just don’t wanna buy your product, I think I can see where this is going: I guess I’ll get a letter next month telling me I will get most of my Social Security payment. The government will withhold the amount necessary for my monthly payment toward a Tesla which I will receive after the final payment is recorded!! 🤬
Dear Donnie: You can’t force someone to.buy a product. Americans. still.get to decide how we spend our hard-earned money and what companies we will.spend it with. We can decide not to biy products because we don’t like the look of the brand, are offended by its commercials, or no reason at all. Nothing illegal about it. We are also free to try and persuade others to join us in refusing to.buy the product. Yes. We peasants have the same right of free speech as Evil.Muskrat and you.