By AFP
March 11, 2025
US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to the press as they stand next to a Tesla vehicle on the South Portico of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC - Copyright AFP Mandel NGAN
Jeremy CHILDS
President Donald Trump responded Tuesday to plummeting Tesla share prices by briefly turning the White House into a showroom, announcing he was buying one of the electric cars manufactured by close advisor Elon Musk, and threatening anti-Tesla protesters with “hell.”
The unprecedented product endorsement by a sitting president for a company founded by his top donor comes after Tesla shares cratered amid market fears spurred by Trump’s tariffs and backlash to Musk’s controversial role in slashing the US government.
“I said, ‘you know, Elon, I don’t like what’s happening to you, and Tesla’s a great company,'” Trump said to reporters Tuesday while standing alongside Musk in front of a red Tesla sedan on the south portico of the White House.
“He has never asked me for a thing, and he’s built this great company, and he shouldn’t be penalized because he’s a patriot,” Trump continued.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has empowered Musk to slash federal government spending and headcounts as leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
But DOGE’s high-profile cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance, including protests, court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.
The turmoil has also tarnished the Tesla brand, with sales plummeting in Europe, share prices tumbling and multiple reports of cars being vandalized.
Unhappy Tesla owners have even slapped bumper stickers on their vehicles claiming they had purchased them “before Elon went crazy.”
Trump warned of unspecified crackdowns on protesters.
Asked by a reporter if they should be “labeled domestic terrorists,” Trump said “I’ll do it.”
“You do it to Tesla and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you and you’re going to go through hell,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform his intent to buy a Tesla in support of Musk, promoting the vehicles to his followers.
“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!,” Trump wrote.
“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,” his post continued.
Musk, the world’s richest person, responded on his X platform, thanking the president.
While Musk enjoys Trump’s confidence, polling shows the tech billionaire is deeply unpopular among ordinary Americans, and his cuts to government budgets have sparked angry confrontations between Republicans and their constituents at town halls.
– Tesla shares recover –
Tesla share prices rallied in part Tuesday after closing more than 15 percent down on Monday, as uncertainty over Trump’s import tariffs and threats roils US financial markets.
Tesla has also seen its sales drop across Europe in recent weeks following Musk’s controversial support for far-right groups, including Germany’s AfD during the country’s recent election campaign.
Tesla sales in Germany — Europe’s biggest auto market — plunged more than 76 percent year-on-year in February, official data showed. Overall sales in the European Union almost halved, on year, in January.
In early March, a dozen Teslas were torched at a dealership in France in what authorities treated as an arson attack, and the firm’s facilities have also been vandalized in the United States.
Tesla has lost more than one-third of its market value since mid-December as Musk deepens his association with Trump.
Meanwhile, Musk said his X platform was hit Monday by a major cyberattack, raising questions as to whether the politically divisive billionaire is being targeted or his decision to gut staff at what was once Twitter is haunting the social network.
Fox News reporter challenges Trump on promoting Tesla while Americans are ‘struggling’
David Badash,
David Badash,
The New Civil Rights Movement
March 11, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump holds notes about Tesla cars while being shown various models parked in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
As the stock market continues to drop due to President Donald Trump’s tariff program and resulting anxiety over the possible recession economists warn may come — reinforced by his refusal to rule one out — the President has decided to go on a campaign to promote Tesla, the electric vehicle company owned by the leader of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk. Tesla’s stock price reportedly had been sliced nearly in half since Trump was elected.
Late Tuesday afternoon Trump and Musk “turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk,” NBC News reported. “Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House and parked them on a driveway for Trump to personally inspect, hours after he said in a post on his app Truth Social that he planned to buy a Tesla to demonstrate his support for Musk and for the slumping car company.”
CNN called it “an extraordinary scene” as Trump “effectively held a combination press conference and live Tesla ad outside the White House,” while noting that “Tesla stock climbed on Tuesday, with Trump saying that he would label any violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism.”
ALSO READ:'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight
Many Americans are increasingly concerned about the economy as Trump’s tariffs start to take hold and the markets continue to drop. The DOW, for example, has lost 2800 points in the past month, including Tuesday’s drop of 478 points.
Trump lavished praise on Musk’s Model S, repeatedly calling it “beautiful” and expressing surprise, remarking, “everything’s computer.” His remarks are in stark contrast to his history of denouncing electric vehicles, and more recently, indicating he plans to make it more expensive for Americans to buy them.
According to Kelley Blue Book, the Model S starts at $76,880.
During the event, Musk lavished praise on President Trump, declaring, “As a function of the great policies of President Trump and his administration, and as an act of faith in America, Tesla is going to DOUBLE vehicle output in the United States within the next two years. Double.”
Trump told reporters he was going to buy a Tesla today “because number one this is a great product, as good as it gets, and number two because this man has devoted his energy, and his life to doing this.”
“I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people, Trump continued. Earlier this week on social media Trump blamed “Radical Left Lunatics” for “illegally,” he claimed, boycotting Tesla.
“And I just want people to know that you can’t be penalized for being a patriot. And he’s a great patriot. And he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla and I mean, nobody else has a car company started up in the last 30 years that’s been successful, and I don’t think so. And not only successful, but super successful and because he’s able to find billions and billions and billions of dollars of fraud and waste and all other things.”
News reports question the evidence of fraud and waste unearthed by Musk’s DOGE team.
“I mean, our country is gonna be very strong very soon,” Trump added, “because of a lot of the things that he’s done, and a lot of the things that I’m doing. And uh this there is no better team, but there’s no better for what we’re doing. There’s nobody like this, and he shouldn’t be penalized, and when I watched the other day, I said, I can’t believe it. It should be the opposite.”
But it was Fox News’ Peter Doocy, known for his attacks on the Biden administration, who shifted the conversation, challenging the event that resembled a presidential endorsement of Tesla.
“President Trump, buying a new car while there are some folks who will see this clip at home, and they are struggling with their retirement accounts — down at the moment — uncertainty about work ahead,” he told Trump.
“Well I think they’re going to do great,” Trump declared, bypassing the line of questioning. “Our country had to do this. We had to go and do this.”
“Other countries have taken away our business. They’ve taken away our jobs,” Trump insisted.
Watch the videos above or at this link.
March 11, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump holds notes about Tesla cars while being shown various models parked in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
As the stock market continues to drop due to President Donald Trump’s tariff program and resulting anxiety over the possible recession economists warn may come — reinforced by his refusal to rule one out — the President has decided to go on a campaign to promote Tesla, the electric vehicle company owned by the leader of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk. Tesla’s stock price reportedly had been sliced nearly in half since Trump was elected.
Late Tuesday afternoon Trump and Musk “turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk,” NBC News reported. “Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House and parked them on a driveway for Trump to personally inspect, hours after he said in a post on his app Truth Social that he planned to buy a Tesla to demonstrate his support for Musk and for the slumping car company.”
CNN called it “an extraordinary scene” as Trump “effectively held a combination press conference and live Tesla ad outside the White House,” while noting that “Tesla stock climbed on Tuesday, with Trump saying that he would label any violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism.”
ALSO READ:'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight
Many Americans are increasingly concerned about the economy as Trump’s tariffs start to take hold and the markets continue to drop. The DOW, for example, has lost 2800 points in the past month, including Tuesday’s drop of 478 points.
Trump lavished praise on Musk’s Model S, repeatedly calling it “beautiful” and expressing surprise, remarking, “everything’s computer.” His remarks are in stark contrast to his history of denouncing electric vehicles, and more recently, indicating he plans to make it more expensive for Americans to buy them.
According to Kelley Blue Book, the Model S starts at $76,880.
During the event, Musk lavished praise on President Trump, declaring, “As a function of the great policies of President Trump and his administration, and as an act of faith in America, Tesla is going to DOUBLE vehicle output in the United States within the next two years. Double.”
Trump told reporters he was going to buy a Tesla today “because number one this is a great product, as good as it gets, and number two because this man has devoted his energy, and his life to doing this.”
“I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people, Trump continued. Earlier this week on social media Trump blamed “Radical Left Lunatics” for “illegally,” he claimed, boycotting Tesla.
“And I just want people to know that you can’t be penalized for being a patriot. And he’s a great patriot. And he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla and I mean, nobody else has a car company started up in the last 30 years that’s been successful, and I don’t think so. And not only successful, but super successful and because he’s able to find billions and billions and billions of dollars of fraud and waste and all other things.”
News reports question the evidence of fraud and waste unearthed by Musk’s DOGE team.
“I mean, our country is gonna be very strong very soon,” Trump added, “because of a lot of the things that he’s done, and a lot of the things that I’m doing. And uh this there is no better team, but there’s no better for what we’re doing. There’s nobody like this, and he shouldn’t be penalized, and when I watched the other day, I said, I can’t believe it. It should be the opposite.”
But it was Fox News’ Peter Doocy, known for his attacks on the Biden administration, who shifted the conversation, challenging the event that resembled a presidential endorsement of Tesla.
“President Trump, buying a new car while there are some folks who will see this clip at home, and they are struggling with their retirement accounts — down at the moment — uncertainty about work ahead,” he told Trump.
“Well I think they’re going to do great,” Trump declared, bypassing the line of questioning. “Our country had to do this. We had to go and do this.”
“Other countries have taken away our business. They’ve taken away our jobs,” Trump insisted.
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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