Posted on 03/11/25
| News Source: The Hill
President Trump said on Tuesday he was buying a Tesla vehicle as he doubled down on his support of Elon Musk, who has come under mounting scrutiny for leading the Trump administration’s government cost initiatives.
“I’m gonna buy because number one, it’s a great product. As good as it gets. Number two, because this man [Elon Musk] has devoted his energy and his life to doing this and I think he has been treated unfairly,” Trump told reporters outside of the White House Tuesday afternoon.
Trump delivered the remarks alongside Musk and his son, just hours after he first announced on social media he would buy a Tesla in support of the tech entrepreneur. Multiple Teslas, including the Cybertruck model, were parked outside of the White House.
Tesla’s stock has plummeted more than 50 percent since late last year and suffered its largest drop in more than four years. It follows a string of protests at Tesla warehouses across the country from demonstrators calling out Musk’s leadership of Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the mass layoffs and spending cuts associated with it.
Some Tesla vehicles have been vandalized on the streets while some Tesla owners have put bumper stickers displaying messages like “I bought it before Elon went nuts.”
Musk himself acknowledged the toll his political career had taken on his business empire, telling Fox Business host Larry Kudlow in a Monday interview that he has been overseeing Tesla and SpaceX “with great difficulty.”
Trump touted the work of DOGE and Musk on Tuesday, telling reporters, “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.”