US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would buy “a brand new Tesla" as a sign of support for Elon Musk, who he says is being unfairly criticised due to his politics and participation in the new Republican administration.
The pledge comes at a tumultuous time for Mr Musk, whose net worth has fallen from $464 billion late last year to $326 billion as of Tuesday. Investors have for weeks been dumping Tesla stock as demand for the electric cars has dropped amid protests over Mr Musk's far-right comments and an increase in cheaper alternatives.
Mr Trump said he will call violence against Tesla dealerships domestic terrorism as he appeared with Mr Musk at the White House. Mr Musk said Tesla would double its vehicle output in the US in the next two years.
“Radical-left lunatics" 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," Mr Trump said earlier on Truth Social
“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?”
Mr Musk and his companies, including Starlink, X and Tesla, have been the target of increased consumer activism in recent months. The world's richest man spent $270 million helping Mr Trump to win back the White House, drawing a backlash that has spread around the world.
As head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), Mr Musk has further alienated himself from his customers by slashing the federal workforce. He also drew criticism at Mr Trump's inauguration for giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute.
“Musk has become toxic,” technology consultant and analyst Tim Bajarin told The National. “We’re having protests against President Trump and then there’s another set of protesters against Musk. He’s the richest guy in the world, but he’s also turning out to be very close to being one of the most hated.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group promoting civil liberties in the tech world, did not mince words about Mr Musk and the insinuation that consumer boycotts were illegal.
"Dear Elon Musk, protesting is not a crime," EFF posted to X.
"Organising online to protest isn't a crime either, even if you don't like the protesters' goals. We oppose any efforts to mislabel peaceful protesting as illegal – protests are foundational to our democracy," the organisation added.
On Monday, Tesla stock plunged more than 15 per cent, and sales in Europe and China are plummeting. Shares recovered some losses on Tuesday after Mr Trump's show of support for Mr Musk.
“It's tough sledding but I think we're doing the right thing here,” Mr Musk told Fox Business in a recent interview.
Larry Kudlow told the entrepreneur: “Your stock is way down and you've been criticised left and right."
Mr Musk replied, with a laugh: "You have to look on the bright side."
Although Tesla was among the first on the electric vehicle scene, other car makers have caught up in terms of EV offerings, making the timing of the Musk backlash a thorny problem.
On Monday, his social media platform, X, suffered a shutdown that lasted almost 10 hours. Mr Musk later claimed that the problem was a cyber attack caused by hostile actors operating from IP addresses in the Ukraine area.
Like Tesla, X has also drawn controversy since Mr Musk announced his support for Mr Trump, prompting users to deactivate accounts on the social platform and move to alternatives such as Threads, Mastodon and BlueSky.
There was a glimmer of hope early on Tuesday, with Tesla stock up 3.7 per cent.
