If there is anyone more polarizing right now than President Trump, it has to be Elon Musk. That’s why Trump’s full-throated endorsement of Tesla, of which Musk is CEO, might be one of the most intriguing brand statements of all time.
It’s either going to prove to be brilliant or insane. I don’t think there’s any middle ground.
Writing on Truth Social Monday evening – the social media network that Trump launched after he was banned from Twitter, which Musk later bought, renamed X, and reinstated Trump on – Trump offered an incredibly power powerful “earned media” hit.
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. 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???
Sure enough, on Tuesday Trump basically turned the front lawn of the White House into the set of a commercial for Tesla, complete with five Teslas lined up in a driveway, and more effusive in-person praise from Trump for the vehicles.
“Beautiful,” Trump said, as Musk and Musk’s young son joined him, and added extra praise for Musk’s Cybertruck specifically: “As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘That is the coolest design.’”
Let’s make sure we all know how the U.S. got here.
I suppose it started last July when Trump survived an assassination attempt, and Musk endorsed him for president almost immediately afterward.
Musk then dedicated more than $200 million that we know of to making sure Trump was elected, along with whatever value you’d get on the pro-Trump content on X.
Trump then agreed to bring in Musk as the head of “DOGE,” the Department of Government Efficiency, which is itself a backronym for a meme coin that became popular on Twitter. In the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, DOGE embedded itself in government agencies, advocating for widespread elimination of federal jobs and ushered massive cuts in spending.
Then, the backlash. While Tesla’s stock price jumped after Trump was elected, it’s since lost almost all of that extra value – which meant many billions of dollars worth of increase and then decrease in Musk’s personal net worth.
He’s still the world’s richest person, but losing $29 billion in a single day still has to smart.
At the same time:
- Growing protests outside Tesla dealerships, and even violence in some cases. Note that Trump announced Tuesday that he’ll officially designate violence against Tesla as domestic terrorism.
- Falling Tesla sales in the U.S.: 7 percent last year and 2 percent in the first two months of 2025, according to a study, even as the broader electric vehicle market grew 25 percent.
- Maybe most troubling from a long-term perspective, some of the same diehard Tesla fans who bought Musk’s cars and drove them proudly before he entered politics say they want out.
“I used to idolize the guy,” a Tesla Model Y lessee named Diego Leporini told The Wall Street Journal recently, but said he sold his 83 shares of Tesla stock and is trying to get out of the lease, sick of criticism from family members for driving a car that increases Musk’s bottom line.
“People have been pretty vocal about it, and honestly, I get it,” he told the Journal.
So now, what?
By standing in front of the White House and doing everything but proclaiming that it’s Americans’ patriotic duty to buy a Tesla, can Trump help Musk sell more cars?
Or, if some Tesla drivers and owners have a reputation for being more liberal politically, will Trump’s wholehearted endorsement drive an even bigger wedge between them and the brand?
Or, a third consideration, will politically sympathetic Trump fans applaud him and Musk, but then fail to show up at the showroom?
I have learned the hard way not to underestimate either Trump or Musk.
But, it’s an awfully ambitious idea to build a company with the support of superfans, then alienate them via politics (Rightly or wrongly. I’m not here to tell you what to think.), and then try to replace them with another demographic entirely.
The lesson for your business?
These are polarizing times, and sometimes you do have to stand up for what you believe in, regardless of the business effects.
But if you’re going to bear those costs, at least go in with your eyes open.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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