On Monday, Elon Musk‘s X feed offered the usual mix of paranoid politics, attacks on Democrats and government agencies, and content from accounts affiliated with President Donald Trump (who still prefers his own web platform, Truth Social). But mixed in were a number of posts about Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer that still counts him as CEO despite his seemingly full-time commitment to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a task force firing thousands of government workers as it torches the administrative state.
Musk posted, for example, a TikTok of a man showing off the design and features of a Tesla Model Y. Before that, he amplified pro-Tesla comments from anti-LGBTQ activist Robby Starbuck and MAGA conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Over the weekend, he shared clip from a Tesla fan account of the prototype for the Cybercab, a two-seater robotaxi the company will allegedly be making by 2026. He also circulated a video taken by a customer in their new Cybertruck, writing, “Heartfelt thanks to everyone supporting @Tesla, despite many attacks against our stores and offices.” The comment referred to a scattered handful of fires at Tesla dealerships in recent days — some of them alleged or suspected arsons — as well as showrooms vandalized or damaged by gunfire.
Musk’s increased advertising might be thanks to Tesla’s wobbly performance on Wall Street. The stock finally dropped into free-fall on Monday, plunging more than 15 percent to mark one of the company’s worst trading days since it went public in 2010. The tumble erased the last vestiges of the rally Tesla enjoyed after Trump’s election victory in November, when investors clearly felt that a company run by the president-elect’s largest Super PAC donor was a smart bet. It has lost more than 50 percent of its value — the equivalent of some $800 billion — since cresting in mid-December.
A number of factors contributed to this reversal, including declines across the market and hints of a possible recession. Yet the Tesla brand has also become uniquely toxic since Musk swept into Washington, gave what was widely recognized as a Nazi salute at an inauguration event, and moved to eliminate entire federal offices at a stroke, all while continuing to spew far-right misinformation on X. Last month, the mounting backlash cohered into a formal protest campaign, Tesla Takedown, that is organizing regular demonstrations at Tesla centers around the world while encouraging a boycott and, of course, calling for the automaker’s investors to sell their shares.
